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July 14

Priority queue with same priority

How does the problem of a priority queue change when multiple elements can have the same priority, and those that do should be FIFO? NeonMerlin 02:22, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't have to change and it doesn't have to be FIFO. It is up to the implementation to make it FIFO if that is required. Otherwise it is just a sorted list of items in the queue. As with any sorted list, it is up to the implementer to decide if anything special should be done when to items are equal. -- kainaw™ 02:27, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Typically elements of the same priority will come out in some unspecified (and not necessarily consistent) order relative to each other. --76.91.63.71 (talk) 05:07, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

speech recognition for mutiple voices

Does modern speech recognition software works with one voice only (end user on a computer), or is it good enough for multiple voices (interview transcription, etc.)? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 03:40, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

There are companies which use speech recognition software for their phone support services...the user has to answer with words rather than push buttons, to make choices. For simple yes/no answers the software is trained to understand various accents and voices, as well as "okay, yep, that's right" and other common equivalents of the desired responses. For other replies, the software prompts to "say XYZ or ABC". These words are chosen to be hard to misunderstand for another possible choice. The system is "trained" on many voices (and still often doesn't understand the user).- KoolerStill (talk) 09:38, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Right, but does it meant that there is or there isn't a piece of software one can use to transcribe 2+ voices without training them? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 01:17, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

You mean two voices at the same time? Well, Premiere Pro CS4 has a transcribe tool that is pretty amazing. It can detect multiple voices and will transcribe a separate text for each person. [1] --68.102.170.184 (talk) 12:19, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

A stupid question about moving a window off the screen in Windows

I recently dragged a window off the screen and cannot access this file as I cannot see it any more. The particular file program in question is the Winamp media player in Windows Vista. I was watching a video clip on Winamp and manually increased the attached video screen to the size of my monitor (I should of pressed F11 but didn't). Now the video portion of Winamp is the size of my monitor and the main GUI is off the screen. If I press the (x) to close the application, it only closes the video part but winamp is still running off screen and reattaching the video makes the whole thing go off screen. I've tried everything and given up. Since Winamp doesn't act like a normal window, the "Cascade Windows" doesn't work. The only solution I have in mind is to reinstall Winamp but is there a better way?-- penubag  (talk) 07:30, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried right-clicking the program icon in the notoifcation area, going to options, and playing with all the window sizing stuff? Maximising/minimising a few times? Ale_Jrb^talk 07:37, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

My usual method is to right-click the process in the task bar and select "Move". You can then use the arrow keys to move it back on-screen. Another option for Winamp is that it used to save its window position in its .ini file, I think. If you close it, open the file, change the position to 0,0 and then start it back up, that might work too. Indeterminate (talk) 07:45, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

When those suggestions fail, my last resort has traditionally been to move / resize the window programmatically using the Windows API. The following C++ program:

#include <windows.h>
int main()
{
	HWND h = FindWindowA(0,"Window title");
	SetWindowPos(h,0,0,0,0,0,SWP_NOSIZE);
}

should move the window named "Window title" to the top left corner of the screen. If you do not have a C++ compiler you can use an Excel macro or similar. decltype (talk) 08:11, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Ale_jrb and Indeterminate's solutions don't work. The "Move" doesn't work because of the size of the entire window fills up the entire screen so I cannot move it any higher (which is what I need to do to access the GUI at the bottom) the arrow keys and mMaximzing and minimizing don't seem to work either for winamp. I'm not sure which .ini file you're talking about (apparently not the one in the main Winamp folder since that didn't do anything). The mp3 file doesn't have any .ini files attached. Decltype's solution is very interesting however I know nothing at all about C. I have Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 which is a 1994 version! Vista says it has compatibility problems but maybe I'm just not compiling it correctly. I opened VS and went to "File>New>C++ source file" and entered your above code verbatim and pressed Compile. This is the output:

--------------------Configuration: mover - Win32 Debug--------------------
Compiling...
mover.cpp
C:\Windows\System32\mover.cpp(1) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<'
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\excpt.h(36) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '{'
c:\program files\microsoft visual studio\vc98\include\excpt.h(36) : error C2447: missing function header (old-style formal list?)
C:\Windows\System32\mover.cpp(7) : warning C4508: 'main' : function should return a value; 'void' return type assumed
C:\Windows\System32\mover.cpp(7) : error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '<'
Error executing cl.exe.

mover.obj - 4 error(s), 1 warning(s)

I'm probably missing a step or two. -- penubag  (talk) 08:40, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I meant to try using "Move" after closing the full-screen video window. As far as the config file goes, this link describes where to find it and gives an exhaustive list of the options. Note that you need to close winamp before editing it. You can set wx and wy to 0, which should cause it to be in the upper-left corner the next time winamp is opened. Another option is to set "easymove" to 1, which will allow you to move winamp by clicking on any component window (which should include the video window). Good luck. Indeterminate (talk) 10:26, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

The "missing ';' before '<'" errors are because you pasted in the <syntaxhighlight lang="cpp"> and </syntaxhighlight> along with everything else. That's not C++, it's Wikipedia markup. The "warning C4508" is because Visual C 6.0 wasn't very compliant with the C++ standard (which wasn't even published until 1998). You can work around it by changing int to void. -- BenRG (talk) 15:13, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

WinAMP does this a lot - they've got "fancy" window behavior, which doesn't always play nice. Here's what you can do, without having to write and compile code:

Windows Key + R   (Or, Start Menu + Run)
winamp            (to start Winamp)
ctrl+D            (command to resize WinAMP window)             

This will usually push the main window back to the main viewable area. Note: do not click the mouse, or do anything else, between calling up winamp and pressing (CTRL+D) - because you need keyboard focus to hold for the invisible (or non-present) WinAMP window. Some other things to try are the built-in winamp keyboard shortcuts (Alt+W, for example, can create and solve the mysterious "Winamp Disappeared But The Music Is Still Playing" feature). Nimur (talk) 22:23, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

@Interminate: Move doesn't work at all because Winamp doesn't act like a standard window. Bummer :( .

@Ben:Oh I get it now but that didn't work either

@Nimur: Thanks!! It works! I finally got it fixed :) -- penubag  (talk) 06:40, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

One more solution for you to try: Install Pitaschio (exact spelling, Google it). Amongst the other nice settings it has is an option to force windows to stay within the borders of the screen. I got it via a recommendation on this very RefDesk (for a different problem: making the desktop icons appear as a "list view"). Zunaid 08:53, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that link! It's really handy! Unfortunately it doesn't work on winamp since it's not a real window. -- penubag  (talk) 10:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Apple Disk Image file

Is there such a thing as password protection in one direction only? I have in mind Apple Disk Image files. I use them to store things I don't want others to gain easy access to. (I use a password.) Trouble is, a password is required just to put things into it. I think it would be more convenient if I could put things into it without having to enter a password. I would still like the added security of the requirement to type a password in order to view or remove anything. Anything like that, or is it impossible? Bus stop (talk) 15:04, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, you can do this with public key encryption, using gpg for example. Generate a public/private key pair and protect the private key with a passphrase. Then you can encrypt things using the public key without the passphrase and you will need to enter the passphrase to decrypt them. -- BenRG (talk) 15:19, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

What you want is some sort of encrypted drop box (a drop box lets anyone put things in it but lets only the owner read it). I would be surprised if there wasn't a program already to do it if you Googled around with that phrase. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 22:44, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the responses. Bus stop (talk) 21:15, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm looking for excellent headphones for listening to music WITH a microphone

Hi. I am looking for headphones which are excellent for listening to music but which can also be used for Skype, so it has to have a built-in microphone. The best I have so far found are the so-called "Gaming Headsets" from Creative but they just have one problem: their ear parts are too small!!!! I want to have something like a combination of a headset with BIG ear parts so that it covers but doesn't touch the ear and a headset with a microphone. Can anyone help me? Thank you in advance! --Tilmanb (talk) 15:26, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

I can vouch for the sound quality of Sennheiser gear. The PC 350 gaming headset appears to meet your criteria; there are other headsets with smaller ear cups. Sennheiser is good (IMO), but pricey. The RRP of the PC350 is apparently $229.95 (Amazon US), although Amazon offers them with $100 discount. Searching Amazon (other online retailers are available) for headphones with microphone produces around-ear headsets from $5.99. I'm not sure where you are based - I've used the US as an example, but I would imagine similar products are available elsewhere. --Kateshortforbob 11:03, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. I forgot to mention that I don't like behind-the-neck headphones but that it has to be an over-the-head headphone. So the PC 350 looks good otherwise but it seems to be a behind-the-neck model, right? The other Sennheiser models have too small ear cups. Can you suggest which brand or model is the best (has the best audio quality) apart from Sennheiser (as they don't seem to have over-the-neck models)? The Amazon search you mention looks great but I have no clue which model has the best (or good enough) quality. Of course I can judge by the picture whether it fulfills my requirement (big ear cups, microphone, over-the-head), but I'd like to make sure that it is also suitable for (serious) music listening. The $5.99 model LOOKS good but can it be good quality if it is so cheap? The price isn't as important for me at the moment... Thanks again for your help! --Tilmanb (talk) 06:08, 16 July 2009 (UTC) P.S. I am based in three countries: Finland, Germany and Costa Rica. I am intending to use eBay for buying the headphone of my choice.

Get one of these clip-on microphones, and use it with normal headphones. Best of both worlds. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 06:01, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Should I really? I have difficulties imagining that a clip-on mic would be as comfortable as a headphone with a pre-built mic. I am really afraid that the clip-in will fall off, be directed the wrong way, face away from me, catch the background noise rather than just my voice, etc... So, unless you can really tell me that I am wrong (for example by showing me good reviews and pictures of working arrangements), I don't like the idea of buying a clip-in. Thanks anyway for the idea! --Tilmanb (talk) 06:13, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I just bought a Sennheiser PC350 and I'm using it right now! Strange world we live in. It is EXCELLENT. The sound quality is amazing, and the mic is extremely high quality. if you can afford it, buy it. Also, Plantronics makes some headphones with large headphones. I have them sitting next to me, I used them before I bought my Sennheiser a few days ago =P 68.123.28.58 (talk) 05:57, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi, the Sennheiser PC350 OTHERWISE looks good, EXCEPT that it is NOT an over-the-head headphone but a behind-the-neck headphone! I definitely require it to be an over-the-head headphone! Can somebody suggest an excellent over-the-head headphone covering the whole ear with a microphone? --Tilmanb (talk) 06:17, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Slightly more advanced database

Say I wish to store the animal kingdom family tree in a database (along with top-trumps type information such as length, max age, weight etc), or alternatively I want to store a list of football players, along with individual detailed records for each match they play.

What sort of database program would be up to this - it seemed to be that the common desktop database programs don't really go much beyond a table of values - much like a spreadsheet - am I missing their higher order features, or are they 'just shit'? (excuse my french) 83.100.250.79 (talk) 17:13, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like you're talking about a relational database. However I have no idea what desktop apps help facilitate this. Friday (talk) 17:14, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

For a relational database there are a number of programs you can use. All require some real time to get to know, and reading up on a few database design tutorials will definitely help out. (My general rule: keep it is as simple as you can. Elaborate, many-linked-table databases are a pain to use, alter, and maintain, and in most cases one doesn't need quite as much flexibility in such an area as one suspects one will.) Standard desktop, user-friendly solutions include Microsoft Access, Filemaker Pro, and the free-but-hard-to-use OpenOffice.org Base. Note that none of these are as easy to use as, say, a word processor or a spreadsheet -- they are not intuitive, they have their own complicated way of doing things, and they will all require substantial investment of time to learn how to use even at all. These provide tools to develop user interfaces that sit on top of relational databases, but because relational databases are very flexible, even with a lot of easy-macroing and things of that nature there is a lot of complexity involved in setting up even something quite simple. I recommend getting a "learn in 7 days" type book for any of these programs before attempting to use them yourself, just to help you get acquainted with them. Another approach is to use MySQL (which has no user interface) as a backend database and to write your own interface using any other language you are comfortable with (PHP does a pretty good job of this, and I know people who have done similar things with Perl). Once you have familiarity with a minimum amount of database theory and the means of making them, a decent home-made database can be constructed quite quickly, but it's a steep learning curve to get to that point. (I say this as someone who has done this sort of work for a decade.) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 17:48, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Hypothetically I think I would need

The ability to store multiple data items in a field eg field_subspecies might contain "dog","cat" etc, each with their own database of (mostly) different fields.

It looks like somesort of "pointer to" in a field is necessary too.

Database_model#Hierarchical_model is probably what I need, and it's fairly clear that a relation database can emulate/simulate/be a tree type data base.

I was wondering about "object orientated" concepts as well - since things like inheritence/methods/classes etc might be useful here.

It's already clear to me that this gets complex rapidly, and you might be right about ease of use/access / complexity issues making the whole thing basically inefficient to implement (especially if no money is riding on it!)

I've tinkered with access and base, and it wasn't immediately apparent that they would be able to do a hierarchical model of the sort I might need - can someone confirm that they can/can't (I don't want to spend a lot of time learning only to discover that they are useless to me)83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:17, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Specifically I think the most important point is that I could make a database field contain more databases - I suppose this is done by the "keys" described in the article which would be the equivalent of "pointers to other databases" I described above.83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:21, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

My personal preference for something like this is Filemaker Pro. You can create multiple tables/databases and relate them to one another. I once wrote a maintenance scheduling system for a college motorpool department using FMP. And this was the old version, where each table had to be in a different file! — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 18:43, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

It appears that what you mean when you say "database" is what database people call a "table". A database contains many tables. The table can look like a spreadsheet, but doesn't have to. As an example, the database I use every day has one table with a bunch of people's names, birthdates, social security numbers, and stuff like that in it. Another table has an entry for every blood pressure for every patient. Another table has an entry for every prescription for every patient. This allows for freedom of having a person in the people table that does not have a prescription in the prescription table or a person in the people table that has dozens of prescriptions in the prescription table. It is called relational because the person's identifier in the people table is used to relate that person's record there with all that person's records in the blood pressure and prescription tables. -- kainaw™ 18:49, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes I don't want to be stuck with a Database_model#Flat_model. However I don't want to be 'pretending' I've got a databases when what I've got is in fact a collation of flat file databases in a computer filing system - ie/eg I would like the database program to be able to open a persons "prescription history" from the "patients list" within the same program - I haven't yet found out how to do this in access. It's the presense or absense of those links I'm interested in - ie I don't want to be the database management program !83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:23, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Filemaker Pro sounds quite good

Basically I'm looking for a database that allows a spreadsheet (probably as a specific templated type) to be allowable as a type in a cell (just as integers, text, date etc are allowable types)83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:41, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

The easiest way to emulate a hierarchical structure in a relational database is to have parent/children fields. Let's say you wanted to do a family tree. It wouldn't actually be efficient to create a new table for each branch of the family, which is what you are suggesting. This would get out of hand and unmanagable very quickly. What you could do, though, is have something like this:

Id	Name	ChildOf
0	Erasmus Darwin
1	Robert Waring Darwin	0
2	Erasmus Darwin II	0
3	Charles Robert Darwin	1
4	Erasmus Avery Darwin	1

...And so on. This is very simplified but you can see how it works. Charles Robert Darwin is a ChildOf Robert Waring Darwin who is a ChildOf Erasmus Darwin, who is a child of no one. Siblings are identifiable by having the same ChildOf status. Obviously a real family tree requires more fields than this (there are no spouses in this chart) but you can see the gist of things. This sort of structure is much more scalable and easy to deal with than tables-of-tables. With the right user interface you could easily have the above structure mapped onto a simple TreeList control (like a file system).

A relational database can also be used to simulate very flexible structures. Imagine that you have Footballers and each of them has played in an arbitrary (and different) number of Games. The Games information (with fields like the team names, where it was played, the date, the final score, etc.) would be in its own table (Games), the Footballers (with fields like player names, numbers, teams, etc.) would be in their own table (Footballers). Each table would have a list of primary keys uniquely identifying the game and the footballer. A third, intermediary table could then link up footballers to games by collecting their primary keys in one place.

And maybe you'd want a fixed list of Teams for the footballers to be part of; this would be its own table with its own primary key, and the Footballs would have a field that pointed to the primary key of a team in the Teams table.

All of the above structures are very elementary. This is why I suggested a little database theory would go a long way -- thinking about how data works is not terribly difficult but most people are not very natural at it, because they are not familiar with the specific constraints that organized (computer) data requires. A relational database is almost infinitely flexible (though not infinitely efficient) in these sorts of things, but it requires a bit of either experience or poking around before you are going to figure out what the minimal structure it is that you need in order to get it to work the way you want it to. Rest assured, any of the programs I named can do whatever kind of data you want to do—the trick is not finding the "right" program so much as it is in your own understanding of how to efficiently create table structures that hold the data you need. Hope this of some use. Again, as you report with Access, it is not at all clear when you first start how to make this programs really do what you want them to do—I heavily, heavily suggest getting a simple "learn databases in 7 days" sort of book and working through it. You cannot just walk into database programming and expect it to make sense without some sort of basic guidance. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 22:27, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Your footballer/games example is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for - but so far in both access and base I've not been able to find any real way of doing this - I was at least expecting an abstracr pointer type (key) but I found no such thing. I'll keep trying.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:42, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Relational databases are able to store hierarchical data easily, but the problem arises when there is a huge amount of complex hierarchical data - the time taken to read and collate this information into meaningful reports using SQL queries can be quite restrictive. However, I'm assuming you're not going to have large amounts (millions of rows) of data. I wouldn't use Access for anything other than simple, small relational tables and joins. Use something that uses some sort of ANSI SQL. Oracle would be ideal, but there are any number of 'free' SQL RDBMS's out there. MySQL and Firebird are some that come to mind, or even cheaper single-user licences of Oracle or SQL Server. Alternatively, if you really want to start with an architecture more suited to handling hierarchical data, then something XML based might be the way to do. Sandman30s (talk) 08:30, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Actually the data is v. large, and intinsically hierarchical - so I wouldn't dream of attempting to store in in one massive 'spreadsheet' with relational pointers - in general most querys would be of small mostly intrinsically self contained data sets, so I would expect to be able to set up relational links between different files - I'll assume that's all possible with standard programs. (There could be statistical analysis of the whole set - which as the above rightly points out - would be time consuming, and potentially problematic) I don't need to worry about 'circular relational links' - which I expect is an advanced topic. I'll have a try and maybe ask another question later on.83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:04, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh, and thanks everyone who responded - I really expected a very short and quick answer, but people did a whole lot of typing. Cheers ! :) 83.100.250.79 (talk) 21:19, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I find it very unlikely that you really do need some sort of radically different database structure than a well-thought-out relational database. Consider that Wikipedia is essentially just a very large relational database, as is probably every other dynamic site you use on the Internet. The trick is learning how to think in terms of relational databases and the languages used to manipulate them (e.g., SQL can understand that tables are linked to other tables quite readily, but it takes time to learn how to create complex SQL queries). Again, I recommend getting some sort of book on it. Database programming is not intuitive and requires a little disciplined study if you want to avoid just wasting a lot of your time on schemes that won't work. (You're free to do as you please, of course, but I speak from experience! I deal with a lot of people who decide one day, "I need a database!" and try to do it from scratch, only to find out six months later that really they have no idea what they are doing and their work has produced nothing.) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

You have sort of hit the nail on the head - in that nobody wants to start from scratch when a solution exists

- one thing I wonder is about browsability - specifically for an end user - not an expert database designer - eg will an end user be able to simply browse the database in a way that would be easily learn - ie probably using paradigms inherited from the internet - such as hyperlinks between data bases - eg suppose one set of data is "Mammals", and contains amongst other things a list of mammal families eg dogs, cats, cows etc. Will a given database program allow me to create a database that a non expert user can "browse" - eg expanding or switching to a "cows" database by clicking in some way on the "cows" field in "mammals". My first guess is that I'd need to implement the equivalent of a 'hyperlink' on fields in "report" or "query" mode, and have each sub-database identified by type (ie order,family,species,subspecies etc), with a record/query template for each type. Does that sound do-able?83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:00, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Or to put it another way - do these 'databases programs' actually support end-user access - or is it expected that the programmer write their own display routines using the windows API or whatever, search the actual database using SQL queries, and in fact only use the database program eg 'base'/'access' to create the database??83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:18, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Maybe there is a different set of software programs addressing the problem of end user accessibility - do these 'database browsers' have a name?

After reading through this, it appears that the questioner simply has not discovered how to make foreign keys in Access. Make the key field in one table. I will assume it is an integer. Add a field to another table using the same type (integer). Now, go to the relations field. Use the mouse to drag the ID field of the first table to the key field on the other table. A line will appear that indicates you've created a foreign key. Now, you can easily create reports and queries that map data from one table to the other using the foreign key. -- kainaw™ 16:58, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes that's useful information for me. It's a relief to know they can do relational stuff - however I have another question about browsability for non-expert users. (see 2 paragraphs above)83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:00, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, again, I finally found the relationship manager screen - those db designers certainly know how to keep anything actually useful well hidden!83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:11, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Finding ip address in php

I'm trying to find the ip address of people who visit a web site using php, but all I'm getting is addresses like "hsd1.co.comcast.net" and not the actual ip address. The script is this:

//host check $host = gethostbyaddr($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]); foreach($badip as $value){ //Refusal hosts if(eregi("$value$",$host)){ error(S_BADHOST,$dest); }} if(eregi("^mail",$host) || eregi("^ns",$host) || eregi("^dns",$host) || eregi("^ftp",$host) || eregi("^prox",$host) || eregi("^pc",$host) || eregi("^[^\.]\.[^\.]$",$host)){ $pxck = "on"; } if(eregi("ne\\.jp$",$host)|| eregi("ad\\.jp$",$host)|| eregi("bbtec\\.net$",$host)|| eregi("aol\\.com$",$host)|| eregi("uu\\.net$",$host)|| eregi("asahi-net\\.or\\.jp$",$host)|| eregi("rim\\.or\\.jp$",$host) ){$pxck = "off";} else{$pxck = "on";} if($pxck=="on" && PROXY_CHECK){ if(proxy_connect('80') == 1){ error(S_PROXY80,$dest); } elseif(proxy_connect('8080') == 1){ error(S_PROXY8080,$dest); } }

I'm extremely new to php, and I would be so greatful if someone could look over this and tell me what I need to do. Thanks so much! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 18:53, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

gethostbyname 87.114.25.180 (talk) 19:21, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but I'm utterly clueless what to do with that lol. If it's not too much to ask, could you modify the code I posted above to include the new function in the correct way. Thanks so much! :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 20:22, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

wow this script is fantastic. Thank you for this.! but to get the ip address of people that visit your site you just need this part. That is it.

$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']

to test this, visit any page you are creating with this:

$ip=$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
print $ip;

It will display your ip address, if someone else visits it will display theirs. Now your issue is storing this information. you will need to know SQL to do this. create a table and store the values in it or use a flatfile. Ivtv (talk) 21:26, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks guys! I worked out what the problem was by removing "gethostbyaddr" from

$host = gethostbyaddr($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]);

so it's now just

$host = ($_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"]);

Again, thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 23:03, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

weather radar netherlands android G1 phones

Does anyone know of an android G1 app that currently gives weather radar in the Netherlands. I've installed imap Weather on the phone, but it doesn't seem to have radar and the website suggests that it has radar only in the US at this point. Thanks if you can help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.98.238.113 (talk) 21:33, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

July 15

Linux server. How To.

Ok, I am thinking on renting a server from host provider the planet. They are going to give me 2 500 gig drives. At first I never saw the need for a secondary drive because I really am not sure how to navigate with a linux OS on a server. I have used Cpanel and know it well which I will be getting. So, I realized I can use the secondary drive as a backup of my database and www directory. Or entire root directory for that matter. Ok, now my question...Is there anything in cpanel I can click, or a command I can use to make sure that my mysql database and my directory is backed up to the other drive? It will be a dedicated box with root access.

I know I am better off asking someone on a tech forum. But im at work and all that is blocked. its more of a general question because it will be a bit before I get the server anyway. Ivtv (talk) 00:03, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I strongly suspect you are getting 2 identical drives to set up RAID 1. Both drives will contain identical information. If one fails, the other still has valid data. That is a very common form of backup as it is handled by the drive controller and no software configuration in the operating system is required. As for navigating in Linux, forget the concept of drives. That is so Windows. In Linux, you have a root mountpoint. That is where you start from and it doesn't matter what drive it is on. All directories/folders are mounted somewhere under root. So, you don't jump from drive to drive. You just change from one directory to another and, if that directory is mounted on a different drive, it just happens automatically. It is also common to mount directories from one computer on another computer. For example, I have my computer's drive and I mount my personal fileserver, my work fileserver, my webserver, and my backup server as folders in my home directory. I can move, copy, edit files on any of those computers as though they are local since they are mounted right in my home directory. -- kainaw™ 00:37, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

well that is good news. yeah, I dabbled with Knoppix and Ubuntu back a few times so I have an idea on how linux works but forgot about the mounting jazz. Ill have to ask for a raid 1 configuration then if it is not default which now i am assuming it is. I would like some type of offline backup somewhere tho. For example, if users on my site decide to destroy a table or something I would not want the destroyed data to be mirrored on drive 2. I would want to go to drive 2 to get the data. you have given me some answers and I am thankful for that. Going to be awhile till i get the hardware. Thanks! Ivtv (talk) 01:18, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I use rdiff-backup for offsite backup. It saves the changes so you can get back an old version of a file (even a deleted file). -- kainaw™ 01:19, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

SSH for mobile phones

My son tossed my phone in the pool so I now have a smart phone. I like having email on the go, but 99% of my non-spam email is a request to fix a problem on a server. I need SSH for that. I've been searching (I even called Verizon support), but I cannot find an SSH app for cell phones. Does one exist? If I can find one, I can probably get from there to one that I can force to install and run on my phone. -- kainaw™ 00:39, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

This is a long shot, but since you took the time to help me I thought I would return the favor. I personally had a look here: http://download.cnet.com/TouchTerm-SSH/3000-2352_4-10914575.html and my co worker stated look for a program called Token2Shell. Maybe you already looked, but I thought I would give it a go for you. Ivtv (talk) 02:13, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

What phone/platform is it? If it's Windows Mobile you can use PocketPuTTY which I find works quite well, the only real problem is the limited screen space, but that's more the phones fault than the application. ZX81 ^talk 02:55, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I've never tried it, but MidpSSH is a Java/J2ME ssh client for mobile devices. Indeterminate (talk) 04:41, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

You never mentioned what kind of smart phone this is. Since you're on Verizon I guess you're not using an iPhone, but the iphone does have a few ssh clients out there, and one of them is free. Shadowjams (talk) 05:17, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Shell in a Box exports a command line to a standard web browser using AJAX. It works pretty well. --Sean 13:57, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks all. I'm going to use the free iPhone one's source to make one for my phone. It shouldn't be nearly as hard as messing with Thunderbird to get it working on the dumb thing. -- kainaw™ 13:59, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Best Way to Protect File

What would be the best way to protect a .doc or .odt file from other people viewing it even if they get a hold of it? I know that Word and Open Office both have password services, but how secure are these methods? Nkot (talk) 03:53, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Their methods are usually as secure as your password. You can also use programs like winrar or winzip to compress the file and add a password to it as well. I have never dabbled with open office or word password crackers but you can get around winrar ones if your password is something simple like a dictionary word. But a password like "hE$8*9_+=!!~389jHU**&@#$" needs more computing power to crack then something like the password "JamaCa1". You can also get thumb drives that have passwords on them as well. So, technically you could go with a password for the file, password for the .rar or .zip and a password for the drive it is being stored on. Just do not forget these passwords and make them secure and at least 10 alpha/character/numeric strings Ivtv (talk) 04:40, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Both Open Office and Word have a standardized encryption format, that if I remember right uses RC4. As the previous commenter says, they are only as good as your password, which should not be a dictionary word, and should be more than 8 characters, a combination of upper and lower case, and perhaps numbers and punctuation.

I don't think there are any public vulnerabilities in the most recent versions of these standards, but I haven't looked, and can't be sure. If you are really looking for single file encryption, there are a lot of programs out there for you. PGP and its implementations are obvious answers, but also check out List of encrypting file systems for other ideas. With these sorts of things you should always keep in mind that there is the issue of the encryption algorithm itself, (RC4, for instance, is still a very good method. it's held up well and although there are some small, academic issues with pieces of it, none of those translate to a vulnerability right now), and the system that implements it. It's this second part that gets most people in trouble. Could be a bad implementation, virus on the computer, weak password, etc. Shadowjams (talk) 05:15, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

The latest version of Word uses AES-128, and I'm not aware of any attacks. decltype (talk) 16:25, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

The password-protected Microsoft Office format does pretty strong encryption already. But, your best and most secure option is to wrap the .doc file in an encrypted archive with an unintelligible filename. By denying the viewer any information about the file-type and contents, they will have no starting point for decryption, and will essentially be reduced to brute-force guessing at decryption algorithms and passwords. (Knowing that the file is a MS Word .doc gives them a hint about what decryption method you used - and then they must only guess your password). Note that password-protection is not identical to encryption - you definitely want an encrypted archive file, so that the contents are unreadable. The ultimate question is, to what extent must you protect this data; and how much inconvenience are you willing to put up with when you want to legitimately open or edit the file? You can take data-security to an extreme; perform high-grade software encryption, and then store the encrypted data-bits on some obscure physical media (e.g. modulating the paint on toothpicks in a box that is locked in a safe inside of a secure facility). Attempting to decode this would be a pain; the information-per-volume is atrocious; but it would probably be impossible to brute-force attack, and would almost certainly be tamper-evident if anybody even tried to decrypt it at all. Nimur (talk) 22:35, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Custom animation in powerpoint

Is there a way to REMOVE all the custom animations(from all the slides) at once in MS powerpoint 2003?Shraktu (talk) 05:12, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but its not obvious ! In the Slide Show menu select Animation Schemes ... which displays a list of pre-canned animation schemes. Select a scheme from the Animation Schemes list - "Appear", for example - and click on Apply to All Slides. This overwrites any custom animation in all slides with the selected animation scheme. Then select "No Animation" in the Animation Schemes list and again click on Apply to All Slides. This removes all animation from all slides. Gandalf61 (talk) 11:14, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Internet connection farts out

I've noticed this at home with both DSL and Cable modem, and a couple times at work (Fiber Optic). But sometimes it's like the entire net is dead. The throughput meters on my computer show 0Kb/s. Even when I have several webpages trying to load. And then all of a sudden (usually 30 seconds or more of no traffic), everything downloads at full speed. The fact that it has happened on different types of connections at different locations makes me think it's something more than just my computer. --68.102.170.184 (talk) 13:48, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

This is not normal behavior. I suspect that the cause of your seeing this on multiple machines might be a piece of software that you run on all your machines. It might not be network related, either; it might be that the software sometimes maxes out your CPU, which becomes 100% tasked for 30 seconds or so; does the Task Manager indicate anything like this? What happens if you quit Outlook and all the programs running in the system tray, and just run a browser? Tempshill (talk) 16:03, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Tried not running the throughput meter? 98.14.223.143 (talk) 20:17, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Try safemode /w networking Ivtv (talk) 21:23, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, my Core 2 Duo stays pretty idle (around 8%) during the "blackout" phase. I'm on a Mac, but when I run Activity Monitor, there aren't any processes gobbling up RAM or CPU cycles. There's no VM thrashing. The computer is perfectly responsive -- except the network activity just farts out. (again, multiple machines, multiple browsers, multiple locations, both WPA2 WiFi and hardwired (DSL, Cable, Fiber Optic.) It's like the internet doesn't exist for 15-60 seconds and then it's back. --68.102.170.184 (talk) 12:15, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

So this happens with any type of internet connection you use, but just on this particular laptop? I can assure you that there is no such thing as "the internet doesn't exist", so in this case I can say without hesitation that there is something wrong with *your* computer. Are you sure that you are experiencing the same thing with both ethernet and wi-fi? Macs (in my experience) hare extremely fickle about wi-fi unless you happen to be connecting to an AirPort. In addition, the evidence of the problem you are looking for is probably in /var/log... --Jmeden2000 (talk) 17:02, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Assuming they aren't jet setting around the planet you could assume that this is happening in a fairly localised location - there's more to the internet than just 'your computer' - if you think about it..83.100.250.79 (talk) 17:46, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Happens a lot to normal people - I'd guess a problem at the local exchange. Question can you disconnect the connection, then reconnect, then try accessing the internet - does this give a short burst of activity followed by snail-net? 83.100.250.79 (talk) 17:44, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. This happens on all sorts of Mac computers at work and home. Laptops, towers, iMacs. Is it possible whatever backbone my area is connected to winks out or can't handle all the traffic (I work less than 5 minutes from my home, so they could be on the same trunk... or whatever you call it) --70.167.58.6 (talk) 00:15, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

It's worth asking - if possible (though it may not prove anything if negative) - does the same happen on windows/linux etc.?

It does sound like some-sort of bandwidth throttling on the surface, which may not be intentional, though other things (such as the macs itself could be the problem) (I have had vaguely similar experiences on windows - from year to year the connection sometimes seems to be crap for weeks, then fine for months...???)83.100.250.79 (talk) 01:07, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Computer chassis of sisal?

How likely do you think it is that a small computer which makes a computer case made of water-proofed sisal woven over a frame, will be adopted by major computer companies like Dell and HP? N.B. sisal would save energy by allowing heat to escape. (Cross-posted to science board) --Patar knight - ^chat/_{contributions} 17:42, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Like it says at the top of the page: The reference desk does not answer requests for opinions or predictions about future events so I'm afraid you won't find an answer here and I'd recommend trying a forum instead. ZX81 ^talk 18:12, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

The theory is that this would allow us to use less fans? I don't buy it. Computers with their cases left entirely open are fully capable of overheating. It's not enough to "let the heat escape". You need to actively get rid of it. A well designed case with properly installed fans acts sort of like a wind tunnel, blowing the air right past the areas most likely to overheat. APL (talk) 18:46, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

The concept is workable (although most concepts are) - I'll give you an opinion : chance of adoption my major computer manufacturers = 0.

However chance of case using sisal fibres as a reinforcing agent is greater than 0

How about a bamboo case - they exist?83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:45, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Try stop creating the heat in the first place :) Ivtv (talk) 21:49, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

We're already trying! It's just a lot harder than you might realize... Nimur (talk) 22:41, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

If you have a question that covers more than one desk can you redirect to just one of them - like this:

see WP:RD/S#Computer_chassis_of_sisal? 83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:45, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Or rather, link them to the science desk instead of the science page. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:10, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Cell phone recharging contact erosion

I don't know what the part is called, but it's the port on the cellular phone into which you plug the non-transformer end of the charging cable into. It looks gold-plated to this ignorant user, but it's also been eroded, so much so that I'm have real problems recharging the phone. The charging cable is not at fault because other phones have no trouble with it. How much will a repair like this cost? 98.14.223.143 (talk) 20:15, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

The price of a phone Ivtv (talk) 21:12, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Ivtv's brief statement is probably correct. Modern cellular phones (along with most other mass-produced electronics) have few serviceable parts; very rarely do any distributors stock replacement parts; and technicians are rarely trained in (even simple) hardware repair. Hiring a specialist to perform a custom repair-job with custom-ordered parts would probably be much more expensive than replacing the phone. Nimur (talk) 23:11, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I would try cleaning the contacts with alcohol, as a patina can build up on them (particularly if one lives in a humid clime). It's pretty rare for the gold contacts to wear all the way down such that they are entirely unserviceable; if this really is the case, Nimur is right - a fix is generally cost ineffective. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:20, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Lots of people use erasers for cleaning corroded electrical contacts. I first heard of it being used with the contacts on sticks of RAM, where it works pretty well. Anyway, yeah, if it's corrosion you can clean it off with baking soda or a pencil eraser, but if the plating is worn off, you probably need a new one. Indeterminate (talk) 06:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Existence+

Hi guys,

Look: I'm having some more trouble with existence+. I saw my friend the other day and he was hurt pretty bad. He was all bloody.

Anyway, I don't want to "destroy" anything. I want to represent what the FUCK I want to show to the user and let HIM show me whatever.

;kjfbgkdfb (talk) 21:43, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia Reference Desk cannot provide psychological counseling or medical advice. Perhaps you should talk to your doctor about your concerns. Edison (talk) 21:46, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

[2] - yeah can you lose the riddles seriously - because any questions you have are just going to get deleted as nonsense aren't they. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:43, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Is there a computing question buried in there? Was this question entirely incomprehensible to everybody else? I can't find anything related to "existence+" as a software package or anything. Is it maybe a question about a user-interface? Nimur (talk) 22:46, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I think C++ programming has sent someone insane.. (I know the feeling) Try pascal instead ";kjfbgkdfb" .Good luck.83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:58, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Pity...He could have learned java... Nimur (talk) 23:03, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

July 16

Sniffing BitTorrent Traffic

If I am using BitTorrent (Azuereus client) to download movies, will someone, say an ISP or a hacker, be able to sniff or find out the content of my traffic and hence, know what movies I am downloading? Acceptable (talk) 00:35, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

yes, this is very easy to do with each client. If you look at the piece graph/information of each torrent it will list your IP and anyone elses that is uploading/downloading. No need to packet sniff. it is public info Ivtv (talk) 01:43, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

This is true if the ISP/Hacker is taking part in the file upload/download. What about others who are not taking part in this way (such as the ISP providing internet access to the user)? --Jwoodger (talk) 03:14, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Any user can see this data. It is clear on any client. I use BitComet and Under your tasks there are menu's you can click. One menu, I forget the name at the moment because I am at work you can see every IP attached to the torrent either uploading or downloading and how much of the torrent you have accumulated and your upload/download speed. It is out there in the open. Then, if you really wanted too you can take those IP's and do a whois to determine what ISP it is attached too. The short of it, when you download or upload via torrents, your IP is CLEARLY visible.

edit: Ok, I think I mis read your question. To re-answer it, Anyone that is using a TORRENT program that has the same torrent as you can see your IP on it. so if you are downloading show X, and someone else is downloading show X, they can see in the ip list your ip and you can see theirs. But if you were downloading show X and they were downloading show Y, they cannot. Your ISP, if they wanted too(even tho it is illigal) can record what you are doing while you are using their service. Also, I know that when you download a torrent your ip can be stored somewhere. So, if people wanted too they could gain access to the information you are worried about

Ivtv (talk) 04:37, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Basically, if you don't want your ISP (or hackers, although that's unlikely anyway) to be able to view anything you're doing on the internet, you need to use some sort of encryption. Most secure websites (like banks and such) use SSL/TLS. BitTorrent clients, for the most part, don't have any kind of encryption. It would slow down your downloads, and all the other peers would have to support the same kinds of encryption. The pirate bay guys were trying to make an encrypted network with IPREDator, but it's still beta-invite-only. So, yeah, until something better comes along, anyone who can intercept your traffic can tell how much porn you download. Or whatever. :) Indeterminate (talk) 06:07, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

At least µTorrent supports protocol encryption and it's possible to set it enabled or forced. In the forced-mode it'll only connect to peers with encryption enabled. The torrent-files themselves aren't encrypted (unless you download it from a https server). Thykka (talk) 13:20, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Note that as the internet transitions to network switches instead of network hubs over more of the hops, "fewer" people can intercept your traffic. This does not mean "zero" people can intercept your traffic; especially if you do not trust the ISPs to respect the privacy of your data. As a general rule, you can not be certain which network(s) your data will traverse when you connect to the internet, so you must assume that it is possible for some untrustworthy third-party to intercept your data. Nimur (talk) 09:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

How does protocol encryption help? The way your ISP will find out what you're downloading is when the copyright holder (or the FBI, depending) logs onto the torrent themselves and saves the list of peers. You can encrypt your packets all you like, but that won't stop them from getting a list of everyone who has downloaded a particular contraband file. APL (talk) 15:28, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

APL, that's a valid consideration. With modern encryption (properly implemented), we can "guarantee" that no third-party can eavesdrop. However, as APL points out, the fallacy with peer-to-peer networks is that the "second" party (whomever you are connecting to) is an unknown individual - so it is technically meaningless to verify that you have a secure connection to an anonymous recipient. Nonetheless, this is a totally different class of network eavesdropping (in both the technical and the legal sense). Encrypting the protocol categorically denies eavesdropping capability to anybody who is not an active participant in the transmission. (This may actually be beneficial, from a legal point of view, because it forces the eavesdropper to actively participate in a protocol connection. In some jurisdictions, this can implicitly bind all parties to certain terms of service, etc., etc., and certain obtained evidence may be inadmissible in court, etc, etc. Of course, your local jurisdiction may vary and Wikipedia can not give legal advice. Nimur (talk) 18:38, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I'd just like to point out, to the 'at least uTorrent' comment, that the main protocol encryption used was developed between the uTorrent and Azureus Inc. people, way back when. Azureus/Vuze also has the very same 'force encryption' modes, with at least two different encryption methods.

On topic: a third party, not part of a particular torrent's swarm, would have a somewhat hard time figuring out what you were transferring with even plaintext encryption on. RC4 is a wee bit more effective, though (somewhat effective shaping tools don't really care though, BitTorrent traffic is somewhat easy to spot). Also, remember that the encryption is only on the protocol headers, not on any of the piece data! Washii (talk) 10:24, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Playstation/PC

Kind of a dumb question... I recently bought a Playstation I game, and rather than drag out the Playstation my roommate has, I was hoping to play it on my PC. I run Ubuntu and have PCSX. However, my computer couldn't even mount the CD, quite possibly due to the black underside. Is there a way around this? I could just try to download the ROM from the internet I suppose, ha ha, suggestions? Magog the Ogre (talk) 03:07, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

You tried to mount the disk through the emulation software correct? I've never been able to mount the disk in the traditional windows way of clicking on it in "My Computer" (Or the Linux way, for that matter), but doing it through the emulator software worked just fine.

Failing that, it could be a problem with your CD drive. I know that Playstations with slightly "misaligned" laser assemblies will sometimes read silver disks but not black ones, or vice-versa.

Incidentally, In my opinion a lot of PlayStation 1 games look a LOT better on an emulator than they do on hardware. It's amazing the difference you get drawing the exact same geometry on a modern PC video card. I was disappointed when I discovered that the PS3's emulator didn't work like that. APL (talk) 05:47, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks all, you were right APL; I had to download a BIOS from the internet, and it opened, though it appears this game is not running correctly, and unfortunately I must drag out the old PS1 beast itself. Magog the Ogre (talk) 11:41, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

SATA hard disk for a 2006 MacBook

Hey guys, I have not been here for a while now ... I guess things have changed ...

I have a question, I habe a 60 GB hard disk on my 2006 MacBook and I am considering getting a bigger alternative. How does this http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Scorpio-Drive-WD2500BEVS/dp/B000SIG5QW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247714298&sr=8-3 look? I don't think I need to get much bigger than this ... any suggestions? How about the price? Please respond ... :) Kushal (talk) 03:25, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

At 5400rpm, it might be a little slow, but it shouldn't be too bad. And that price is pretty good, those drives usually go for about $90. I did about the same kind of upgrade on my laptop (40gb -> 250gb) and it totally gave new life to my old laptop. Indeterminate (talk) 05:58, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your quick response, Indeterminate. I already have a 5400 rpm HDD (60GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA - http://support.apple.com/kb/SP31). It might be worth mentioning the model number is MA254LL/A. One more question, is there any reason I should get a SATA 3 Gbit/s instead? Will it even work? Thanks. Kushal (talk) 14:53, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, it'll be faster. :) But yeah, if your laptop is 3 years old, it might actually not be faster - it might fall back to 1.5gbps. If there's a big price difference, I wouldn't bother, but it's your call. Indeterminate (talk) 23:57, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

The price difference is not that great. and perhaps I could reuse the newer drive (hopefully I don't have to) later on. Thanks a lot. Now the only question is the disk size ...I wonder if 320 GB will be big eno.. Kushal (talk) 14:28, 18 July 2009 (UTC)ugh. .

Haha I meant enough. :P BTW, I am also looking at

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001JSSDGU/ and unable to decide which one. :( Kushal (talk) 21:36, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

(I'm in the business, I always get asked the "big enough" question! :) Big enough for what? Because this article is about to get archived, I'll try to answer blindly. If you are storing pictures and music, and compressed video, You'll take a long time to fill a 320GB. And if you fill it quickly... Well, suffice to say the 500GB won't be enough either. That's when you start considering a large external drive. Hope this helps, or try my user page! Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 04:55, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. To tell you the truth, I feel stupid to be asking this question ... I think I will be dealing with photos and some digital videos from my i85. I don't keep my video clips for long, most get deleted within a month and some end up on YouTube (usually as private videos). I am glad you answered my question. I am pretty sure I will be fine with a 320 GB internal hard disk drive. Thanks. Kushal (talk) 15:35, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

i think my memory card reader is disabled

i think my memory card reader is disabled (the thing that you put SD cards in). is there a way to re-enable it? it worked fine before I did a system restore, now it doesn't recognize any SD cards and doesn't show up in "My Computer".--Drawngray19 (talk) 12:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Go to the Device manager it may be that that piece of hardware has been disabled. Here's a guide on how to get to it if you don't know how to (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/f/finddevmngr.htm). ny156uk (talk) 17:52, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

i was looking there already, but i can't seem to find anything that says "memory card reader" or "5-in-1 reader" so i dont know what to do.--Drawngray19 (talk) 15:50, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

network adapters??

how do i find which network adapter i have in my computer (ie. wireless)?? and which driver do i install to make "airopeek" work on my computer??

sushil —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sushil shenoy (talk • contribs) 13:38, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I have never used Airopeek, but to find out about your network adapter, first open the Device Manager and then click "Network adapters". You didn't tell us what OS you are running on your computer, so for instructions on how to access the Device Manager, I'll refer you to our Device Manager article. Tempshill (talk) 16:08, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

i run on win xp !! simply the best !! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sushil shenoy (talk • contribs) 15:51, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Sending huge files as time intervals

Is it true that if we had virtually zero latency across networks, we could send arbitrarily large files almost instantaneously? If we converted the binary value of the file into a number, x, and then sent two pings to another computer, x miliseconds apart, the other computer should be able to create the original file, right? (Idea from Dinosaur comics).

Even if x were very, very large, couldn't we compress it even further, by taking factors of that number and sending those factors all at the same time? Say for instance the factors of x were y and z. We could send the transmission like so:

ping!----[y]----ping!
  pong!--------[z]-------pong!

So we should be able to send any number, no matter how large, in a very short time, with enough factors, right?

Obviously, we don't have zero latency. But we could have some known time slice that was large enough that both computers could be sure they would both measure accurately, say "number of half-seconds" between the two pings. Two computers on the same network should at least get that kind of accuracy. Then if you broke down the factors so they were small enough, each one would only be a few "half-seconds."

Are people already using this kind of compression?

— Sam 14:00, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Comment : Why are you factoring the numbers? That's an expensive operation. Why not just break the file up into chunks of some number of bytes in the traditional way? APL (talk) 14:13, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Or that. I just figured factoring would allow the number to be broken into even smaller chunks, but I don't know which would be more efficient. Point being, either way you could break a large number down into many smaller ones and just send those smaller ones as very short time intervals, all at the same time (or very slightly offset). Would that work, and does it already exist? — Sam 14:30, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Your factoring is nothing more than a form of data compression. You are using a well-defined method to take a large data item and represent it as a small data item (two or more factors). So, you are asking: "Can we use data compression to transfer large files over a network faster than sending the large file itself?" Yes. It is used all the time. Most large files are compressed in some fashion before being transferred over a network. There are also programs for some slower networks that compress all traffic on one and and decompress it on the other. -- kainaw™ 14:34, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Using time intervals between pings is not a practical method of compression. Here's why. Let's assume we chop a document into kilobit chunks and turn each chunk into a binary number between 0 and 2¹⁰⁰⁰. Half of these numbers will have a 1 in the most significant place, so average value is about 2⁹⁹⁹ (give or take 1). Some of the numbers will be prime numbers, for which factorisation will not help. So at least some of the time intervals involved will be of the order of 2⁹⁹⁹ time slices which is 2⁹⁹⁸ seconds. Turn this into years, then compare it with the age of the universe.

Now you could refine the method by using smaller chunks, which makes the average time intervals shorter. Ultimately, you can use a separate pair of pings for each bit - say half a second apart for 0, one second apart for 1. Then what you have done is reinvent Morse code. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:46, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

This is why I was suggesting taking factors, and not just chopping up the number. Say we were sending a kilobit. That would be a number in the order of 2¹⁰⁰⁰, right? So if we take the hundreth root of that, we get 1024, So if we sent out a hundred pings in a row, and sent a hundred pings again 1024 ms later, then that would be read as 1024¹⁰⁰ = 2¹⁰⁰⁰. Now obviously I'm seeing that this is silly, since it should take much less than 1024 ms to send one kilobit of data. Is there any case where this might be useful? If the clocks were so synchronized that they could count the nanoseconds accurately, say, then 1024 ns would actually be very fast, right? And it would always be able to send the kilobit in 1024 ns no matter what the speed of the network (or rather, 1024 ns + initial latency) if the computers could confidently measure the time interval. No? (Well, I guess there are a lot of hypotheticals in that last thought, so I guess we're in hypothetical land now...) — Sam

63.138.152.238 (talk) 15:15, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

If such reliable clocks could be synchronized, they could be used for transmitting data directly. The flaw here is that the bit-rate is actually very low on the average. Assuming a uniformly random distribution of numbers to be sent, ranging from 0 to N, you need an average of N/2 symbols. It "seems" like you are sending very little information, ("two bits"), but in fact you are simultaneously sending "no information" (... zero-value bits) for the entire intermediate time interval. This must be counted as part of your coding scheme (because if you sent anything in the intermediate time, you would change the transmitted message). Like all perpetual-compression-schemes, this method cannot and will not violate the Shannon information theorem - the data transmission rate can be no faster than half the Nyquist-rate. You might be interested in other methods, like CDMA, PSK, and the like - these use chipping or symbol coding by methods other than "binary bit" - but in the same sense, they always must be limited by Nyquist criteria. (The Computer Scientist can invent whatever coding method he wants, but when he passes it off to the Electrical Engineer, it must have a hardware manifestation which is invariably going to be bound by certain physical law)... Nimur (talk) 18:50, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

If you have nanosecond accuracy in the timing of when you can send signals out on the wire, you're likely to have at least a 1 bit/ns throughput. That is, as you count off the nanoseconds, you can monitor the communication channel. If there's signal, it's a 1, if not, it's a zero. So in 1024 ns, you're likely to be able to transmit at least 1024 bits of information in such a fashion ... which is exactly equal to the kilobit you're trying to encode. The only possible application for something along the lines of your idea that I can envision is if you have some sort of system where the recovery time for the signal is much longer than the timing accuracy. That is, if you can initiate a signal with nanosecond accuracy in any arbitrary nanosecond, but once you trigger the signal, it suppresses further signals for a significant period of time. An example is a theoretical system transmitting signals with high intensity laser pulses. The signals can be very brief and timed to the sub-millisecond level, but it might take the capacitor bank several milliseconds to recharge for the next pulse. -- 128.104.112.87 (talk) 18:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

You just can't win...the laws of information theory are every bit as rigid as the laws of thermodynamics (to which they are closely related). One law is that you can't compress arbitary data without loss. Your scheme MIGHT compress numbers that happen to not be prime - but prime numbers take MORE space to send because you have to send the two factors '1' and the full value of the number. When it all averages out - you lose. Perfect, lossless compression is like perpetual motion machines - it's DEFINITELY not possible. So, forget all of the compression...all you have left is "turn the file into a number - 'send' the number as a delay. Fine - OK - so let's send (say) the Declaration of Independance (of Lithuania as it happens!): it's 818 bytes. So if you send that as a number, it's 6544 bits long - making the length of your transmission significantly longer than the expected life of the universe! So you can't do that. How about sending each letter as a delay in the range 1-256 ms? Well that's only 209 seconds...but we can do better. If we chop each letter into two 4-bit numbers in the 1-16 ms range - then your system can sent the 1636 four bit numbers in a mere 26 seconds! If we go to 3272 two bit numbers in the 1-4ms range then it's only going to take 13 seconds...and (guess what?!) if you send each bit as a delay of 1 or 2 ms - then you can still do it in 13 seconds. But hold on - rather than sending "START....delay...STOP" why not just send "ONE" or "ZERO" - no delay is needed - and you only need to send one 'special code' instead of two. In fact, what we've just demonstrated is that the most efficient possible way to send the lithuanian declaration of independence is as a simple, uncompressed binary code. Boring, eh? Well - that's life. You can't do better - it's quite simply impossible - and that's as true as that perpetual motion machines are impossible. SteveBaker (talk) 01:54, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

regarding pointers

can pointers be declared using different datatypes? can a float value be stored using *ptr? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Srividhyaathreya (talk • contribs) 14:11, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

What language? Pointer handling is different in different languages. APL (talk) 14:13, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm sure in most common languages the compiler will work out/require that the pointer is associated with a particular datatype, so the answer is yes in general, when you are using a high level programming language such as pascal, or if using C. In a lower level language such as assembler you have to do this yourself sometimes - ie the you need to remember what type of data a memory pointer is pointing to. Are there any exceptions?83.100.250.79 (talk) 15:18, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

The obvious issues are if you try accessing data that might not actually be a float (or might be in a different byte order). In that case, you can still read it or write it as a float, but the actual value will be garbled if it is re-accessed as something else. Another worry is word-alignment. In C, for example, a byte* can point to any address; while a float* should point to a 4-byte-aligned address (on many architectures). Some machines will give you an alignment exception if you use a 32-bit float on a non-word-aligned pointer. Others will re-align the word at runtime. Nimur (talk) 19:44, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

And if you are using C, you could of course destroy yourself if you had used malloc to reserve enough space to store a 16-bit word, but subsequently you end up storing a 64-bit float. Tempshill (talk) 21:10, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Don't frighten the questionees - memory overflows do not cause one to physically disintegrate.83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:21, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Also think of the questioner, we wouldn't want to frighten him or her either. --Anonymous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.254.170.8 (talk) 01:06, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

the damage has probably already been done ;(

Pointer (computing) might answer any specifics. in C I think it's

float *peter to declare a variable called peter used as a pointer for/to floats

in Pascal I think it's

var
 peter: ^float  different syntax, same effect

though you are obviously asking about something like C Pointers in this context are always pointing to memory locations so they are always integer types themselves - probably 32 or 64 bit. If you wanted the pointer itself to be a non-integer datatype that's a different question, and an odd thing to do.83.100.250.79 (talk) 01:03, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

HELP NEEDED

Hi All, the other day i inserted a flash drive in to my USB port and since i have open the drive, i can't see my "FOLDER OPTIONS" in "TOOLS" menu... and moreover i also can't use the "SEARCH" feature in "START MENU"...

Can anyone let me know how to overcome this problem?

Does this look like what is happening to you? Google is our friend. Kushal (talk) 15:14, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

autorun.exe

How do i see the autorun.exe of any flash disk/pen drive??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sushil shenoy (talk • contribs) 15:19, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

The autorun.exe file is usually marked as "hidden", so the easiest way to do this is to tell Windows to "show hidden files". In Windows XP, do Control Panel->Folder Options, and then I think it's on the "Advanced" screen. In Vista, open Control Panel and then type "folders" in the search field, then choose "Show hidden files and folders". After this is turned on, the autorun.exe on a flash drive will be visible (and easily deletable, which I assume is what you're aiming for). Tempshill (talk) 15:58, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

exactly ..... i hate autorun.exe! slows down everything !!! and at times can get infected also !!

You mean autorun.inf I think. 68.123.28.58 (talk) 05:50, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

COBOL Help

Hello. I installed OpenCobol, which uses Visual C++'s cl command to make binaries from COBOL source files. So, I made a COBOL hello-world program (TEST.COB), and compiled it, but it just creates (1) test.dll, (2) test.dll.manifest, (3) test.exp, and (4) test.lib. Anyone know how to make a .exe or at least use those files to output the message to standard out? I tried running the .dll using rundll32, but nothing happened. Here's the source for TEST.COB:

000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000200 PROGRAM-ID. "TEST".
000300 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000400 DATA DIVISION.
000500 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
000600 DISPLAY "HELLO".
000700 STOP RUN.

Thanks for any help.--H. Gutmans (talk) 18:53, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Nevermind. Sorry. I needed to add a -x to the cobc command to get it to output a .exe.--H. Gutmans (talk) 19:08, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Who am I connected to?

Is there any way of checking that I am connected (broadband) to the ISP I expect, and that my broadband connection has not been hijacked and put through some expensive thing? I know my anti-virus software will check for diallers, but is there any more direct way of checking please? 78.145.23.157 (talk) 19:40, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

If the hijacker is good enough, it is impossible to tell. The hijacker will inspect and fake all traffic so even something like traceroute will show you incorrect information to make you think you are on your network. It really isn't worth it do go to that much trouble for some random Internet user. So, just run traceroute on something like Google. You will see each IP address between you and Google. You can check to ensure that the ones closest to you are your ISP. -- kainaw™ 19:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Dialers affect users using dial-up, not those on broadband.--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 20:54, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I think the OP is asking: When he connects to the Internet via his laptop or iPhone or whatever, might he be connecting to the Internet via some expensive ISP that charges him a lot of money? Offhand I can't think of any way this could happen, because unlike with a telephone line provided by your local phone company, you have not authorized your ISP to charge you for services that are performed by other companies. At least, I haven't ever heard of such a thing. Tempshill (talk) 21:07, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Mathematica 6.0

Does anybody know what algorithm Mathematica 6.0 (student edition) uses when the Sort[list] function is called? --72.197.202.36 (talk) 20:34, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

It seems to be Quicksort which we also have an article about.-KoolerStill (talk) 23:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

How to compare two folders?

What would be the easiest way of comparing two folders and checking that their subfolders and the names of the files within them are the same please? I just want to confirm they are the same, not move files around. The folders may be on different drives. I am using Windows XP. Thanks 78.145.23.157 (talk) 21:29, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

command prompt: tree C:\path\to\folder1

command prompt: tree C:\path\to\folder2

put the windows side by side

Ivtv (talk) 22:10, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Even better!

CMD: tree c:\path\to\folder1 > c:\folder1tree.txt

CMD: tree C:\path\to\folder2 > c:\folder2tree.txt

CMD: fc c:\folder1tree.txt c:\folder2tree.txt

(If you don't know what '>' does, it redirects the output into a file of name some (path and) file)

This should work pretty handily without any extra software on I believe Win2k+ Washii (talk) 10:34, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Get the free winmerge.exe (http://winmerge.org/). Wonderful tool! Saintrain (talk) 00:55, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree! We do have an article on WinMerge though. Jay (talk) 09:37, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Security

http://news.runescape.com/newsitem.ws?id=2003

How secure is this, really? Someone was claiming people would "work around it", but if you had such a key I can think of no way, beyond physical theft, to compromise the security of someone else's account. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding it entirely. Is it possible to hack someone's RuneScape account if they've got one of these keys? Vimescarrot (talk) 21:47, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

The security token article may be of interest to you. Tempshill (talk) 22:13, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I cannot access this page, but I am assuming that you order a physical device and through a random number generator every 10 seconds it matches the same number generator to your account. World of Warcraft does the same thing. if you implement this to your account it is next-to-impossible to crack it. each number generator is unique Ivtv (talk) 22:21, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

How to identify a running application in Ubuntu?

Say I have a GUI application running on Ubuntu, for example the tracker applet or the sound recorder or the screenshot application and I'd like to report a bug against it. The command ubuntu-bug <packagename> would take care of that but how would I know the name of the package in the first place? (This is also very useful if you would want to use killall <NameOfApplication> or simply want to know how to start the application with parameters from the commandline.)

Does it boil down to using top or htop to look through possible application names or asking at the forums or is there a smarter, better way? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Jarl Arntzen (talk) 23:15, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, I usually use top or ps auxf. The tree organization of ps auxf sometimes help find the program, and if you just started the program, it's often the last item in the ps list. There must be some better solution, though. Indeterminate (talk) 23:22, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! That's certainly one possible way. Have anyone else some other, good technique to suggest? Jarl Arntzen (talk) 23:34, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Many window managers have an "identify window" widget. If yours doesn't, the following Perl script will change the cursor to a crosshair, you click on a window, and it will tell you the command line of the process that opened that window:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

`xwininfo` =~ /Window id:\s*(\S+)/ or die "could not find window";
$id = $1;

`xlsclients -l` =~ /^Window\s*$id:.*?Command:\s*([^\n]+)/sm
    or die "could not find client";

print "$1\n";

--Sean 14:28, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

JSON texts versus values

RFC 4627 says that "A JSON text is a serialized object or array.", and that "A JSON value MUST be an object, array, number, or string, or [one of 'false'/'true'/'null'.]" What reason is there for requiring that the top level construct be an aggregate? My impulse would have been to make the text be a value so that there was only one concept to address. Is it perhaps related to XML's restriction that the top level be a (single) tag? --Tardis (talk) 23:15, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

We may have to wait for The Design and Evolution of JSON, but I've also found that weird. --Sean 22:58, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

What's wrong with this javascript widget?

I have User:Henrik/sandbox/google-search installed in my monobook.js. It's supposed to put a google search box in the left menu column, which indeed it has done for ages. Today I found no such search box & am v.depressed since I make major use of google searches of wikipedia. Does anyone have a clue what's going wrong? thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:20, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

WP:VPT would be a better place for this question. Algebraist 23:22, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I can't see anything wrong with it, and it works fine here. Have you tried bypassing your cache? Algebraist 23:25, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. It was a cache problem, or, was solved by clearing the cache. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:28, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Windows needs disc to boot

My PC with a Gigabyte motherboard and Windows Vista has an odd problem. It will not boot unless the Vista DVD is in my DVD drive. It then does not boot *off* the DVD — it just seems to need the DVD to get started, and then it proceeds to boot from the hard disk. I may have faulty recall here, but I think a similar problem occurred before I had installed the current hard disk and installed Vista — the old hard disk, with Windows 2000 on it, required a boot disc in the DVD drive in order to proceed to boot from the hard disk. Changing the boot device order in the BIOS does not seem to affect this issue, other than when the DVD drive is set to be the boot device, it boots from the DVD. Any suggestions? Tempshill (talk) 23:52, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

this does not seem to make much sense at all. Try resetting your bios to default, then boot to windows and update your bios. did you do a clean install of vista? Ivtv (talk) 00:00, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

This sounds contradictory (though I'm guessing you're pretty sure you're accurately describing the symptoms). Are you very certain that the system is not booting off the DVD? Maybe there is a broken bootloader; can you try booting off the DVD and reinstalling the boot-loader (or using a Linux CD to install GRUB)? Nimur (talk) 00:23, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Some more details: I'm very certain it's not booting off the DVD, which runs an installer. Yes, this was a clean install of Vista. Each time I boot the system, after the disks are listed and the memory check is done, it seems to hit the hard disk for a long time (during which the LED seems lit at half-intensity, telling me it's flickering fast), and then an error message appears saying, "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". I have now clumsily tried installing GRUB from a Knoppix CD (I fumble with Linux) and after mounting the C: drive into /mnt/temp, and trying "grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/temp /dev/sda", it hit the hard disk for a while and then said "The file /mnt/temp/boot/grub/stage1 not read correctly." I also have booted the Vista install CD and tried installing the Windows Boot Manager, and got a file error that I didn't write down. I haven't tried re-flashing the BIOS; I guess I'll attempt that (and then reinstalling WBM) next. Tempshill (talk) 04:40, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Try shuffling your boot order. Sometimes if you have the optical drive as the first boot device the BIOS can be stupid and stop at that when it detects no disc in the drive. Set it to hard drive and make sure the drive priority is correct. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:59, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I found that my BIOS is a couple of revisions old, but the only BIOS flash utility from Gigabyte I was able to find on their website is for 32-bit Vista only (yay Gigabyte), and from the descriptions, it appears that the changes are some CPU ID additions and one added feature. I checked my boot order; it's HD first (always was) and I verified the drive priority is correct (SATA HDD, then a PATA HDD master). I stared at the drive light while booting, this time, and logged the following bizarre behavior, which does occur with 100% reproducibility:

1. Memory test completes on the BIOS screen
2. Drive indicator light turns "half-intensity" (which I interpret to mean it's getting accessed repeatedly but not continuously) for 25 seconds
3. The BIOS lists all the connected drives
4. The drive indicator light turns "half intensity" for 35 seconds
5. The BIOS lists all the PCI devices then says "Verifying DMI pool data"
6. Drive light is off for a couple of seconds
7. Drive light turns on, half-intensity for an amazing 122 seconds
8. Text appears saying "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD..." At this point I leave it alone and it boots Vista off the hard disk.

So, yes, it takes me 3 minutes to boot my computer, and nearly all of that time is spent accessing the hard disks, if my drive indicator light isn't lying. Could this be the root of the trouble? Tempshill (talk) 07:49, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Strange, indeed. (1) nothing to do with the BIOS version, if it ever used to work at all (2) looks like it is searching madly for a boot sector, as indicated by the "disk boot failure" error message. Having finally found the boot instructions on the DVD, it then proceeds to load these into memory and run the rest of the OS from the hard drive.

It sounds like the boot sector is corrupted. So stranger still if it did, indeed, do the same with another hard drive and OS. If it's done it with more than one disk, it is more likely a kinked or cracked ribbon cable to the drive. Triple check, flatten out and reinsert the cable, ideally replacing it with a new one. (I've had cable problems create Disk Boot failure errors with no other trouble once the HDD was running).

The DVD should have a Repair section on it. Fire that up and go to the Booting section, which should allow you to "fixmbr" (rewrite the master boot record).This will overwrite the Grub, which does not sound a very successful installation either. Or get a hand from this BCD repair programwhich works without the DVD. Leave the BIOS set up to start from the HDD. - KoolerStill (talk) 12:40, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

OK - I tried the Vista disc's "Repair -> Startup" process, and it went through a diagnostic and said that no problems were detected. Following a Googled tip, I did bootsect.exe /nt60 all from a command prompt after booting from the DVD; bootsect went through and stated for both my C: and D: hard disks that it had "Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode." This didn't lead to any change in my 3 minute boot times or the need for the Vista disc in the drive. Thanks for the tip on the cables — I guess I'll take a look this weekend. I would have guessed that a cabling problem would cause ongoing HD access failures and wouldn't have expected problems only at boot. Tempshill (talk) 16:18, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

It's possibly a more insidious failure, e.g. failing hard-disk that is intermittently flaking out. By the time the OS boots, error-correction can make this seem transparent or nonexistent. It's also possible that there is a power brownout in effect - your hard-disk may be right on the edge of consuming more power than your PSU can supply (again, intermittently failing). I would treat this system very cautiously and back up all important data; hopefully a fix can be found, but these symptoms may indicate a more severe crash is imminent. Nimur (talk) 20:54, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

It's weeks later and this is in the archives now, but in case any person of the future finds this thread: I "fixed" the problem. My boot drive was a SATA drive and the second hard disk (used for backup) was an ATA drive. I disconnected the ATA drive from the system and now the computer marches quickly from the BIOS screen through the device ID screen and then boots normally off the SATA drive, and the Windows disc is no longer needed. I have no explanation for the malfunction and don't know whether it's the ATA drive itself or the ATA cable. Thanks Nimur for pointing to physical problems. Tempshill (talk) 00:34, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

July 17

Using PC power supply for scanner

My flatbed scanner power supply (wall wart, 12VDC, 1A) went away. :-(

Any potential problems using a +12V line from my PC's power supply; ground loops, etc?

Thanks. Saintrain (talk) 00:45, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Does the PC supply have a 1A overhead ? (You know how cheap a new 12W power supply can be right ? ) 83.100.250.79 (talk) 01:10, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If scanner (data cable) is connected to the same computer as power supply, there could be no ground loops. I do not know for sure, but scanners peak power consumption does not seems to be very large, so it should work. -Yyy (talk) 07:27, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Kristin ITC font

I have the font "Kristin ITC" installed on a computer at work but not at home. Work machine is XPH and the home is XPP. Can someone tell me what software app comes bundled with this font? There seem to be several like that but this is a good start I think. ZabMilenko^{How am I driving?} 06:05, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Oops, maybe if I googled right the first time, this would have come up. Thanks. ZabMilenko^{How am I driving?} 06:06, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Database (MS Acess)

How can I have the value for a field be calculated automatically based on values in 2 other fields one of which is in the same table and the other in different table? --195.244.210.38 (talk) 09:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If I understand the question correctly, for a particular table you want a particular column in each row to be calculated based on the value stored in another column (of the same row in that table) and a column in a different table? If thats right - then no; not possible at the raw table level. Can I assume you are actually referring to creating a form tied to underlying tables? If this is the case, complicated manipulations of data is possible... Jwoodger (talk) 14:00, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I thought they might have meant 'cells' when they wrote 'fields'.83.100.250.79

Yes, 'cells' is probably easier to write than my definition, but they refer to the same thing (columns of a row) Jwoodger (talk) 15:33, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

(talk) 15:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If you are using a Query, it is easy to do this with complicated functions. Set the value to one of the columns to something like =Table1.[Foo]+Table2.[Bar]. Syntax might not be exactly right but it is something like that. You can't do this with raw table view itself; it needs to be done in a Query. (Tables are just data, they don't have functions. Queries are basically tables+functions.) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Are you certain tables are raw data - eg are spreadsheet functions like sum(a1:a10) lost when importing a table and converted to a number? This sounds like a nightmare. There's another way right??83.100.250.79 (talk) 15:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Spreadsheet functions are NOT included in tables. It's not a nightmare, it's a different paradigm. Tables are NOT the same thing as Excel spreadsheets AT ALL and should not be confused with them. They hold numbers and text and things like that. No functions. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:43, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, to be precise tables are not just data, they include structural definitions as well (data types, relationships, other metadata). As for the rest of that question, I'm not sure what you mean... Jwoodger (talk) 15:33, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

From your previous questions, you appear to confusing the database and the application. The database is nothing more than a bunch of tables of data. The thing that you use to put data in the database and get reports out of the database is the application. Access is unique in that it combines a database and application into one product. Most databases do not include the application. So, understanding that Access is two things combined into one, the database should not contain data that is just a combination of two other fields. That is something you place at the application level. When a person fetches data, you add up the two columns and display the result. -- kainaw™ 15:25, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

There must be properly integrated database/spreadsheet systems out there though, surely?83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:27, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that the application (spreadsheet) must be customized for every purpose. For example, I have a field on my report (which you are calling a spreadsheet) that is a percentage. The denominator is the number of times a patient has a systolic blood pressure > 140 or diastolic blood pressure > 90 and the previous blood pressure was also > 140 or > 90 (unless the patient is diabetic, then I use 130/80, not 140/90). The numerator is how many of those occurrences coincide with an increase in anti-hypertensive medication. So, do you propose that MS Access (or some "properly" integrated program) include this special field? Of course not. It is the job of the database administrator to customize the application to the user's needs. It is not the job of the program to instamagically create the application because no matter what is available there will be requests for more application features. -- kainaw™ 16:32, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I would suggest that the database program be able to handle the same form of data as the spreadsheet. So if the spreadsheet can handle your data - the database would be able to (sounds like you have 2 values per cell or something - I don't know medicine) and vice versa

I don't see what is so outrageous to expect that sort of commonality. It's not a case of application features - it's a case of expecting two closely related programs to be able to use the same data set, without loss of data (or functionality).

In other words "properly integrated" means the database accepts a .xls file or whatever as a (dynamic) table (keeping the interelatedness between values), not just a static 'snap-shot' of the numerical values. Obviously access can't do that - I have to open a spreadsheet to alter data that affects a third value, then reimport it to create a report or whatever. Or maybe write out the statistical functions twice - ones for the spreadsheet, and once for the data report in database mode - doesn't sound good.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:55, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you are looking for functionality that would be available as a calculated column, or a view in full database system. As far as I know, MS Access does not have calculated columns or view by that name, but the same effect can be achieved by defining and saving a query that contains the desired calculation, and then referencing the query as if it was a table. For example, if you have a table Table1 with numeric columns a and b. You could define a query on that table as "SELECT a, b, a / b as c FROM Table1;" and save it as Query1. (Although I've written this as a SQL SELECT statement, you can do the same with the query designer.) You can then browse Query1 or write another query against it just as if Query1 were a table. You can even save data to columns a and b, and column c will be calculated automatically. -- Tcncv (talk) 04:32, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that's the sort of thing. I was wondering if more money can buy better integration between a spreadsheet and database program - but it looks like that particular product is called a database engineer.. Actually I'll shut up because I just remembered that this wasn't my question - don't want to start hijacking it83.100.250.79 (talk) 09:02, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Don't confuse the spreadsheets of Excel with the tables in Access. Their similarity in appearance is only superficial. You cannot use Excel-like functions or row references or calculated columns in Tables. You CAN do waaaay more awesome and complicated things with your data in Access Queries than you can in any Excel spreadsheet. They do two very different things, don't confuse them!! --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:45, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

OK then, can someone help me out with a query to pull this off. This is basically what you need to know. Ive got the following tables with the relevent fields in brackets and a brief explanation in square brackets:

• Currencies(CurrencyID, Currency, ExchangeRate) [This is where the exchange rates used by the company are stored]
• Demand(DemandID, Stock, Currency, Cost, CostInPounds) [This is where requests for more stock are stored]
• Stock(StockID, StockNumber, Description, Size) [This is where the details of all the different stock are stored]

Basically, I want someone to be able to make/view any requests with the important feature being that they can select the currency being used (as stock may be coming from a company in a different country and therfore uses a different currency) enter the cost and then have the cost in pounds (GBP) calculated based on information in the Currencies table and entered in the CostInPounds field. Can this be done using queries and if so how as I'm quite new to queries/SQL --|||| —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.244.210.38 (talk) 08:25, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Comparing zip file to directory in Ubuntu

If I have a directory (and I have one) and if I want to compare it to a zip file (and I want to) to know what is different and add or remove stuff from the zip file, what can I do it in Ubuntu? This would be like a simple backup, but it is also useful for other purposes (like packing a set of up-to-date docs).--Quest09 (talk) 10:54, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Beyond Compare will compare a directory to a zip file. I have only used the Windows version but according to their website, they also do a Linux version. Mitch Ames (talk) 11:20, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

banning ip ranges in php

Hi everyone, I have another question about php, this time how to ban entire ip address ranges. This is the code I've got so far, but it only works on single ips:

<?php $blockip = array( '123.456.789.123'=> 'block reason', ); //'address'=> 'block reason', foreach($blockip as $key=>$val) {if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == $key) { die("You are banned because: $val"); } } ?>

How can I ban entire ranges in php? Thanks for your help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 11:13, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

This is a tricky problem because of the syntax of IP addresses. Here's the simplistic solution: If you want to block, say, 12.34.xxx.xxx, you can add the key 12.34. to your block list and, if the incoming IP begins with 12.34., you block it. So, instead of comparing equality between the remote address and the key, you see if the remote address begins with the key. Here's the problem: what if you specifically try to block 1.2.3.4, so you make that key. Now, someone comes in with the remote address 1.2.3.45. That begins with 1.2.3.4, so it will be blocked. So, you are better off doing wildcard matching. So, instead of blocking 12.34., you block 12.34.*.*. Now, you have to write a comparison that matches "*" to any number. Regular expressions are commonly used for that. Another problem: the period is a reserved character in regular expressions (it means ANY character). So, 1.2 will readily match 152 (the period between 1 and 2 matches anything, including 5). So, what can you do? A million or so things. One is to not use periods. Use dashes. So, before the comparison, $key = str_replace(".", "-", $key) ... and the same with the remote address. Now, the period will be a dash and the address will look like 12-34-56-79 instead of 12.34.56.78. Then, if you used * to mean "any number", you have to change that to regex syntax with $key = str_replace("*", "{0-9}*", $key) ... no need to do that on the remote address as it won't have a * in it. Now, you can test: if (preg_match($_SERVER['REMTOE_ADDR'], $key)) { die... I know, it isn't as easy as you probably want, but it is one of a thousand or so ways to do it. Want a different example using the explode function on the IP addresses? -- kainaw™ 13:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Might it be better practice to block IP ranges at the HTTP server or even at the network level, rather than at the application level? I guess it depends on your application. If you are the server administrator, you can edit the web server settings. Even if you are not, you can create a .htaccess file (this works with most configurations of Apache). (Here's a quick and easy tutorial. Nimur (talk) 14:17, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

That would probably be better, but I'd really need this to work in php so that I can just transfer the entire web folder from place to place and run it in an instant without any server setting up. Thanks Kainaw, I'll give your suggestion a go. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 16:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Just for your information... you can have an .htaccess file which specifies such IP blocks in the same directory as your PHP files; and you can move this .htaccess file around with the PHP source (as long as the webserver recognizes .htaccess files, which most standard-configuration servers do). Good luck with your implementation, however you choose to do it... Nimur (talk) 20:51, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Preventing background tabs from playing YouTube movies automatically?

When restart Firefox 3.5, it restores the tabs from my previous session. It's a great feature and I love it. But one problem is if I have multiple YouTube tabs, it starts playing ALL of them and I have to step through each tab to stop the movie. I don't remember this problem in the past. Is there a way to prevent YouTube movies from auto playing unless it's the frontmost, active tab? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 12:01, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I have added the Firefox addon "flashblock" which replaces all flash content with a placeholder. The flash will only load and the movie start playing when you click the flash object placeholder. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 12:11, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

NooB wireless LAN question

For years I was happily connected to the net via wired LAN or (olde-worlde) modem. But these days I have to be connected via wireless LAN and I'm acutely aware of not knowing what the pluck I'm doing. The wireless router has instructions in Japanese only, which doesn't help, but I can't make sense of the en:WP articles either.

First, the OS I'm using isn't among those for which the manufacturer (Corega) of the wireless router provides idiot-proof instructions. A sticky label on the router tells me that its SSID or ESSID is such and such and that the "network key" is a certain eight-digit number. The OS wants the SSID (unproblematic) and also either or both of "BSSID" (which it glosses as "Only connect to the station with this hardware address") and "MAC address" (which it glosses as "Override hardware address"). Specifying an address that one then overrides makes no sense to me, or perhaps I should say that it makes even less sense than anything else does. Should I then use "BSSID"? Whichever I choose, I'm to supply it in the format "__:__:__:__:__:__": a twelve-digit number; should I type this in from the left, leaving the rightmost digits blank, or to the right, leaving the leftmost digits blank?

Secondly, is a WPA2/WPA-PSK -protected connection to a given wireless router in any way vulnerable to an unprotected connection to the same wireless router? I really don't care if others are freeloading off my LAN as long as they can't sniff what I'm doing. I did once manage to set up one of these wireless routers, protected and all; but I never could figure out how to disable the bonus unprotected network "cg-guest".

Thank you. -- Hoary (talk) 12:06, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

The BSSID and MAC are typically supplied only when one is building an infrastructure-mode wireless network (that is, a bunch of wireless router boxes all connected together). Clients typically need only the network key (and often maintain a mapping table correlating the right key with a given SSID; so when your laptop sees ssid="hoarynet" it knows which of its stored keys to send). So I wouldn't set either of those, but instead look for some other place in which to input the key. Regarding your second question - home routers are set either to allow only encrypted connections or only naked ones (not a mixture); but it sounds like this Corega thing might be a bit fancier than a basic home router (such as the kind found in hotels)? If so it'll have two (virtual) lans, one for the encrypted traffic and another for the naked stuff; if anyone can sniff the encrypted traffic then the router is very stupid, but whether broadcast traffic is visible between the two depends on how the router was coded. You might not think you're doing any (ethernet layer) broadcast traffic, but Windows' wins/smb service announcements ("hi I'm a printer... hi I'm a network share called "porn folder"... etc.) are incessant. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:45, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, perhaps I'm starting to understand. The Corega device is (I translate from the Japanese) a "wireless LAN broadband router", a "super high power 11n wireless LAN", offering "150Mbps" -- which may all sound very grand but actually this little plasticky thing is about the cheapest device I could find (circa &eur;30). I merely want a wireless LAN for use within a single small office in which two people are often using any of five or so laptops to connect to the net and a printer -- this is more convenient than plugging and unplugging a USB cable and trying not to trip over LAN cables. It seems that every Corega wireless router is set up with an unprotected LAN named either "corega" or "cg-guest" (indeed, for one entire week I was connected to the net via "corega" belonging to some unidentified neighbor). In principle, I'm happy if anyone wants to be my "cg-guest"; if this threatened to be a great drain while I was doing some major once-a-year feat such as downloading the latest Debian, I'd simply (?) disable wireless while connected, um, wirefully. -- Hoary (talk) 00:20, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Is it one of these Corega routers? They all seem to have English manuals at the bottom of their pages. If you need the MAC address, it might be on the bottom of the router, near the serial number. And no, AFAIK being on WPA2/WPA-PSK or any other encryption should prevent other people from easily intercepting your data, even if you're both on the same router. It's still not totally secure, but nothing is... Indeterminate (talk) 08:33, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the tips. No, my device is specific to the Japanese market. And oddly it doesn't much look like any of those shown on that page. (Or perhaps not so oddly, as it advertises itself as "150Mbps".) Any idea on the best way of supplying an eight-digit MAC address to a blank for twelve digits? (Maybe if I took the number as decimal -- which it seems to be -- and converted it to octal....) -- Hoary (talk) 14:53, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Decisions on pyramid of images

I'm unaable to guess the levels of resolution microsoft maps or similar websites possess. When making an image pyramid, How does one decide on the levels of resolution and even the size of an indvidual tile?. Can anybody throw some light please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.220.46.25 (talk) 13:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If you'd like to view the individual image tiles that sites like Google Maps download, the easiest way is with an HTTP proxy that lets you save the individual downloaded junks as files. For similar tasks I've used HTTPripper, but there are lots to chose from. Google's tile size is 256x256, so that's a pretty big clue that zoomed in tiles cover either quarters or sixteenths (I'd guess quarters) of their parents. This article says there are 17 levels of zoom, and he says it's quarters. Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:48, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Reformatting my Compaq Notebook

My notebook is infected with a weird virus and so I wanted to do a clean format of the HDD and reinstall Windows. Compaq (which btw is now HP) did not give me a recovery disk (which I have used in the past) but instead has a recovery partition on the HDD. How then do I use the partition to reformat and reinstall Vista? Also, will I be able to backup my data before the reformatting is done? I do not want to connect a thumb drive or external HDD to my system to save my data because the external device may also get infected. Help needed. Thanks 116.71.75.2 (talk) 21:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay so I found out how to do it.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07145#bph07145_xp

But this means there isn't an inbuilt option to backup my data. Can anyone give me an idea on how to do this without letting the virus spread to my other devices? Thanks. 116.71.75.2 (talk) 21:14, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Tap F11 on boot will get you to the recovery manager. you can backup data in there with an external drive. contrary to popular belief you cannot 'infect' an external drive(anymore at least). Data can be corrupt yes, but as long as you avoid transferring over anything that can execute you will be fine. that and pdf files. Ivtv (talk) 21:23, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't think the last 2 sentences of Ivtv's answer help the OP much. 116, what you probably want to do is to indeed back up all your data to an external drive, and then reformat your internal drive, reinstall Windows, set up an account without admin rights for normal everyday use, install antivirus software, install all your applications you use, and then, while using your non-admin-rights account, copy your documents from the external drive to your internal drive and make the virus software scan them. There are several ways that documents can indeed be infected. Then take your external drive, put a warning sticker on it, and throw it in a drawer in case you need to get other files you didn't copy initially. Tempshill (talk) 22:12, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I'd recommend virus/malware scanning the external drive before copying the files back to your new, clean system, but yeah, good advice. Indeterminate (talk) 08:17, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Tempshill, but that is not really an option for me, because I use the external HDD regularly and cannot condemn it to the junk heap. What if I copy data from my internal drive onto a CD? Will that carry the infected stuff? Also, where do I get all the drivers for the notebook? Are they already on the recovery partition? 116.71.78.131 (talk) 11:39, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm confused now. Do you already own an external HDD? If you do, then the virus may exist on both the internal and external HDDs, and my advice would be to get a second external HDD (let's call it "Joe") and then copy the internal drive's contents to Joe, and reformat the internal drive and reinstall everything as described above. Then I'd use your virus software to "clean" or "disinfect" the external drive. And then Joe goes into a drawer. On copying your internal drive to a CD and whether viruses would get copied, too: Yes, because it's some of your files which are infected, and so you're just copying the files to a CD, infections and all. I'd echo Astronaut's advice below, which I think is the same I mentioned above. Tempshill (talk) 05:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

When you say a "weird virus", what does your virus scanner say it is? Why do you think reinstalling Vista is the solution - have you not considered cleaning the infection without reinstalling? However, if you insist on reinstalling, I would back up your data to your external drive; reinstall Vista and all your programs including the virus scanner; let it get all the latest updates to Windows, and the virus scanner; connect the external drive, cleaning each file of the virus as you copy them back to the notebook; reformat the external drive to make sure the virus is dead. Astronaut (talk) 17:24, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Freeware Calendar

I am looking for a popular freeware calendar application that I can use. I need one that allows me to create a schedule on one computer, then save it in a file that can be transferred to another computer (with the same app obviously) and then imported into the app on the second computer. Is there an application that will allow me to do this without distorting the original schedule of the second computer's app? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 21:28, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

why don't you just use goggle calender? --Cameron Scott (talk) 21:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

does it do everything i need? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 21:37, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I think it does — there is no app, and everything is stored on Google's servers, which you can access from anywhere (using any reasonable platform). It's free, so you may as well try it out. Tempshill (talk) 22:07, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Although, you'll need an internet connection everywhere you want to access the calendar. Unless you sync it with some software on your computer. Dismas|^(talk) 05:29, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Mozilla Sunbird can do what you want, but I'm not sure how easy it is to sync accros computers. Otherwise you might look at List of personal information managers. Or just use google. Personally, I hate trusting outside providers for that sort of stuff, I prefer using my own computers, but I'm forced to admit that Google Calendars works very well.

PS. I'm not sure what you mean "without distorting the original...", perhaps we're misunderstanding that part? APL (talk) 14:47, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I think he means that the second computer will have it's own user and they want to share appointments between the two. --Cameron Scott (talk) 17:27, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Need help setting up a FTP server

Hey guys. I'm new with this whole FTP thing. I currently use BulletProof FTP Server v2.3.1. I followed many, many online tutorials and instructions on how to set it up, and I've almost got it... but ran into some problems. First of all, it seems that I'm able to connect to the server fine using PASV mode (I have a dynamic DNS name via No-IP), but for some reason I can't get the LIST working. I'm also a bit confused on some things concerning port forwarding. I think I've got everything forwarded correctly but I'm not too sure... Just to clarify, where do I need to forward ports 20 and 21 to? This question goes the same for the range (I'm using ports 50000-50100). If I need to forward them to the machine hosting BulletProof, how do I do that in my router firewall (2Wire 2071) and my software firewall (PC Tools Firewall Plus)? If there are any questions then ask, and I appreciate as much help as possible! Thanks. Vic93 (t/c) 22:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

You only need to do port forwarding in the router's firewall, and yes, you forward it to the machine hosting BulletProof. Here's a guide to forwarding a port on a 2wire router. On your software firewall, you just need to open the ports that you're going to be using. In the program window, you probably want to click on "Applications" or "Application Blocking" and define your ftp ports. To find out if everything's working, get a website (like this one) to run a port scan on your ip address (select "common ports" or something). If it tells you that you "failed" because your FTP port is open, then congratulations, it works. Not sure about the LIST problem, let us know if you still have that after fixing the port forwarding issue. Indeterminate (talk) 08:12, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for reply. I opened the FTP ports on my software firewall and forwarded port 21 and ports 50000-50100 on my router. After turning the server online I ran the port checker and sure enough, I failed with port 21 open. So it looks like I'm good there, right? However I'm still getting "426 Cannot Retrieve. Failed. Aborting." and "421 Connection timed-out!" errors when trying to LIST in BulletProof. Any suggestions? Thanks. Vic93 (t/c) 16:37, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, that's strange. In the options window, under "Other", you might check to make sure that the "Command for directory list" is actually set to "LIST". That's all I can really think of. They have a knowledgebase and wiki on that link I just posted, too... you might want to check there. Indeterminate (talk) 22:15, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

How to find out what kind of broadband I'm using?

I'm considering buying a second-hand internet gateway or router, because its cheap. How can I find out the technical details of the kind of broadband I'm using please? Do different types of broadband need different types of gateway/router/modem? 89.240.61.156 (talk) 23:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Your IP resolves to "OPAL TELECOM DSL NETWORK" in the UK. So you're using an ADSL broadband connection. Most broadband in the UK is ADSL, which comes over BT wires. The only significant exception to that is people who have Virgin cable; they need a different kind of box to the ADSL folks. Before you change box, you'll need to write down the login parameters (username and password) that are encoded in your current box, as you'll need to enter these into the new one. -- 87.115.153.0 (talk) 23:36, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

In the UK we basically have cable and ADSL. If you tell us your ISP (e.g. talk talk, orange etc) we will be able to tell you what is suitable. Rjwilmsi 07:03, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. The ISP is Talk Talk and the device is either a Zyxel Prestige 700 series or a Zyxel Prestige 600 series. The owner probably disposed of them because they do not offer wireless: I on the other hand do not trust wireless and do not want it. My aim is to get more than one computer using the same broadband connection, while appearing to the ISP to be only one computer. And if possible to allow passing files between computers for back-up purposes. I do not think the Zyxels have any software CDs with them. One computer will be running WinXp (as the ISP requires), the other one or two will have Linux Ubuntu. 78.146.236.46 (talk) 08:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay, Talk Talk provide ADSL lines, so to replace your modem and provide Internet sharing you will need an ADSL modem router. They cost between about £20 and £100 depending on the features you require. You will find that nearly all of them now are sold with wireless, but you can disable this and use the LAN connection instead if you wish. Personally I have a Linksys router (I'm also on Talk Talk). Because the routers are configured using a web interface it won't matter whether you have Windows, LINUX or some combination of the above. Rjwilmsi 17:10, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

You might be able to get more info from Zyxel tech support, including a copy of the correct manual. One thing to note: the previous owner might have set the admin user and password to something else, but I guess the Zyxel modem has a tiny reset button somewhere. If the Zyxel kit doesn't work out for you, pretty much any wireless modem/router available in the UK comes with two or more ethernet ports and a way to turn off the wireless section (from the modem/router's control panel). Astronaut (talk) 17:13, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

July 18

Framerate problems

When I play a computergame on my laptop, the framerate starts out just fine. However after about 15-30 minutes of playing the framerate drops to unplayable levels. I don't know what's the problem. It happens when I run any game, so it's not specific to any particular program. I'm baffled really to what might be causing this. I'm running an Intel Centrino Duo. Videocard is a Quadro NVS 110M. ScienceApe (talk) 07:56, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. That is a bit odd. It could be overheating, which some systems deal with by automatically underclocking, which would reduce performance. If you've had the laptop for a year or more, you might consider taking it apart and cleaning out the fan vent. It usually gets clogged with dirt on laptops. (It's not terribly hard, but don't do it if you're not comfortable with taking apart computers and putting them back together.) It's also possible that your graphics drivers might have a memory leak... have you already updated your drivers to the most recent version on the vendor website? Hmm... can't think of anything else right now, but there's probably other things that could cause this issue. If I think of any more, I'll post them. Oh right, you might want to try running some benchmarking software like 3dmark or something. It might be able to give you a graph or something of your system performance over time. Indeterminate (talk) 22:10, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I strongly suspect that this is simply a memory issue. The longer you play the game, the more things need to be loaded into memory (models and sprites and textures and what-have-you), and after a while it can no longer fit. It then either has to be recycled and removed from memory (which can conceivably slow your game down) or more likely be paged off to the hard-drive, and when it needs to be recalled again, it can't do it from super-fast volatile memory, it has to do it from super-slow magnetic discs.

Of course, I can't be sure, but it would help if you posted how much RAM you have and what games this is happening on. 83.250.236.75 (talk) 00:29, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Ok I have 3072megs of ram. Memory speed is 533mhz. Memory type is DDR2 SDRAM. It happens on pretty much all of my games, including emulators. I mostly play Unreal Tournament 2004 these days. Even relatively simple emulators like Genesis emulators. It'll run at a smooth 60fps when I first start the game, then after 30 minutes or so, slows to 30 fps then 20 fps. I will also add that my laptop doesn't seem to detect my battery anymore. I once ran the laptop on batteries and was downloading something via wifi, and the battery drained in just a few minutes, and it hasn't worked since. Unplugging my laptop will shut it off. I have no idea if this has anything to do with my problem, but I figured I would throw it out there. I will say that I can't remember having framerate issues before the battery died on me... ScienceApe (talk) 06:46, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Download CPUID Hardware Monitor and monitor your temperatures while it's in the slow-down state. Overheating is the biggest possibility here, the age of your hardware means that it'd have gathered a significant amount of dust in its heatsinks, something like File:Laptop_dust.jpg. Memory leak is really unlikely because it does not depend on what you do, merely loading the cpu will cause slow downs. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:04, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

But that doesn't really explain why after I restart the game, the framerate is back up to acceptable levels again. I just tried Unreal Tournament 2004 now, and played for about 20 or 30 minutes till it became very choppy, then restarted the game, and it's back to normal again. ScienceApe (talk) 15:21, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Three gigs of RAM should be more than enough, that's certainly not the problem then. While the battery-thing is obviously bad, I don't see how it would have anything to do with this. Do you have any of those really intrusive anti-virus programs running in the background? It might do a scan or something every 30-45 minutes that will slow down your computer (I'm guessing here). Also, it might not lead anywhere, but if I were you, I'd download Process Explorer and start killing processes like an insane lumberjack. Just stop everything non-essential, restart your game and see what happens. 83.250.236.75 (talk) 19:49, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I actually formatted my computer recently and reinstalled Windows XP SP2. So it can't be any malware or viruses, because they should have been destroyed in the format. Could it be a problem with drivers? Do I need any drivers for RAM? ScienceApe (talk) 21:23, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Ok downloaded that thing, and stopped all non-essential things. I still got massive slowdown in my game... I'm going to try uninstall my sound drivers and see what happens then. ScienceApe (talk) 23:28, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

How to take screenshots of Mac OS X applications's windows

I have recently found myself uploading screenshots of an application designed for Mac OS X, (see Chromium screenshot). However, so far I have only done this using Preview and the "grab" function. This meant that I have not been able to reproduce the semi-translucent shadow that windows in Mac OS X produce. Could somebody kindly tell me how I can capture the semi-translucent shadow, (as seen in File:Finder.png, and File:ITunes 8 OS X.png). Thanks alot, --P.Marlow (talk) 10:30, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Try Apple-Option-4. That should allow you to define a screenshot area that includes the shadow. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:09, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

and if you press the spacebar immediately, you should get a camera icon that will grab the image of the window only. :) Kushal (talk) 14:24, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

right, but it won't give you the shadow, which is explicitly what the OP wanted. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 19:59, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your help. Another user very kindly answered it for me: you press Command-Shift-4 and then Space, after which you click the window you want to capture and it captures the whole thing including the shadow. Thanks for your help anyways!--P.Marlow (talk) 08:56, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

GIF2APNG

Please convert most animated GIFs on Wikipedia Commons to APNG! --88.78.10.214 (talk) 14:35, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

This is the reference desk. Try the WP:Village Pump. APL (talk) 14:43, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

APNG is not supported on nearly enough of the current browsers that people actually use. Sure, it would be nice if lots of browsers supported MNG or APNG, but they don't, and promoting non-standard minority formats isn't Wikipedia's job. -- 87.114.153.140 (talk) 15:25, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I had never heard of APNG until this moment and using "...an unofficial extension to the PNG specification" which the "PNG group officially rejected..." would be a very bad idea. Anyway, what's wrong with animated GIFs which work everywhere? Astronaut (talk) 16:39, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Ideally we'd move away from animated GIF to an animated PNG format, in the same way that the web has mostly moved away from regular GIFs in favour of PNGs. MNG (which is the PNG group's suggestion for animated PNG, but which the Firefox people didn't like, and which no-one else seems to care about) and APNG both have the same advantages over animated GIF as PNG has over regular GIF: better compression, multilevel alpha (so you can do nice transparency), gamma support, and proper colour support (not just a limited palette). But the reality now is that no-one supports MNG out of the box, and for APNG there's no out-of-the-box support in IE, Safari, or Konqueror, and those browsers that do support it only did so relatively recently, leaving large populations behind that don't. -- 87.114.153.140 (talk) 16:51, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Incidentally the "PNG group officially rejected" thing isn't that serious a problem, as the PNG standard was built to accommodate new extensions without causing problems (which APNG is), whereas MNG doesn't "fail gracefully" on current browsers that do have PNG but not MNG. The real problem is that the web standards bodies haven't standardised a format, leaving an inconclusive chicken-and-egg situation (where browsers won't support things that aren't used, and authors won't make things that browsers won't display). That said, even if W3C or WHATWG did standardise on one or t'other today, it would likely be years before IE caught up, and it's difficult to justify creating general-interest content in a format that only a minority of visitors can see. 87.114.153.140 (talk) 17:03, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Isn't there an animated SVG format? JW _|^|_| Talk 17:48, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Two, really. SVG has basic procedural declarative animation where elements change according to some basic rules and paths (see http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/animate.html); this would be of some use to Wikipedia, animating some kinds of diagrams. The second kind is full DOM access, where a script (which means javascript in practice) can reach into SVG drawings and wiggle bits around. That's much more flexible, but it's very difficult to use in Wikipedia, because that would entail allowing ordinary contributors to supply javascript that's then run on others' browsers, and sanitising such general user-supplied code is very difficult. For both of these the spec exists, but the code is lagging; for MNG/APNG the code exists (either included or as an easy plugin for all major browsers) but the spec is lagging. 87.114.153.140 (talk) 18:01, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

In any case, at the moment, animated GIFs are here, probably to stay. If in the future some other simple, animated bitmap format is widely acceptable, you can be sure Wikipedia will be all over that. That being said, animation for animation's sake is not necessarily desirable—a non-animated diagram can be sufficiently more enlightening than an animated one, if only because you can usually discover at a glance what a static image is trying to convey, whereas watching an entire animation (sometimes a few times) is required to make sense of it. There are places for animation, and there are places for static images. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 19:59, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

MHZ - Help (Again)

Can anyone please clarify more specifically this problem here. I am really stuck with my system. Please help. Thank you--119.30.36.46 (talk) 16:37, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

DNS settings sensitive?

Is it risky to post one's DNS settings from their domain/webhost on the internet?

I can't think of anything that a malicious person could realistically do with your DNS settings. Maybe they could figure out what ISP you use, but they could do that with your IP address anyway. Here, if it makes you feel any better, I'll post my DNS settings:

nameserver 24.25.227.55

nameserver 66.75.160.63

nameserver 24.25.227.56

Does that help? :) Indeterminate (talk) 22:01, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Since it's a domain you're talking about, anyone can just do a whois on the hostname and get your nameservers. If that's what you're talking about, it's not sensitive information. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 00:32, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

July 19

Power Supply Problem?

I just bought a new "computer" (really just the motherboard (Foxconn NF4UK8AA), processor (AMD Athlon 64 something), RAM and video card (GeForce 9600GT)) and I'm trying to set it up.

The system boots to my old hard disk (Win XP SP2), but as soon as it gets about 5 seconds into the "Windows" loading screen, it Blue Screen of Death's and restarts. The BSOD happens too quickly to read the error. It does this in Safe Mode as well.

I suspect the problem is that my power supply isn't sufficient to power the video card. The PSU is a Sparkle FPS300 (300-watt). Many forum posts and other online sources seem to suggest that 400-500 watts is needed for this card.

I was hoping someone else might be able to bang their head against this diagnosis. Is a BSOD-restart midway through the Windows loading screen consistent with insufficient power? Does the PC run the card at low power until some point during the Windows startup?

I'm probably going to buy a 500w power supply at some point soon, but it would be nice to save the money if this was not the issue. NByz (talk) 02:57, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Did you just move the old hard drive over into the new computer, without formatting or reinstalling windows? If the new computer is a significantly different architecture, that could be causing your bsod. Also, if you want to test the video card power issue, you could always just take the video card out and try booting the computer that way. If it still restarts automatically, it's probably not a power supply problem. Indeterminate (talk) 03:16, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Just as Windows XP starts to load press F8 and the boot menu will come up (you may need to press it a few times, but it will appear). There's an option on that menu to disable the automatic restart on system failure so when it blue screens again you'll be able to read the message. However, I agree with User:Indeterminate and it's likely it's caused by the configuration having radically changed and Windows simply doesn't have the drivers installed for the new hardware. Unfortunately the only workaround for this would be to boot from an XP CD and try a repair or "upgrade" over the existing installation, but personally I find this can leave the system quite unstable and a clean install would be better (wiping the existing drive). Please be sure to make backups of the data on the hard drive BEFORE trying and repair or upgrade options though! ZX81 ^talk 03:34, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I tried booting without the video card, but I can't tell if it auto-restarts. The light just stays on. The video card is my only output.

Thanks for the tip on the avoid Auto-restart. The error was 0x0000007B. Could be configuration related.

So now, my problem is that I don't have any bootable media handy. My version of XP is... less than registered, and I don't have the windows CD for a repair. I might be able to get my hands on a bootable USB tomorrow. I'm sure there are some windows XP CDs around somewhere...

The fact that the system will stay on with the blue screen makes me lean away from blaming the power supply.NByz (talk) 04:10, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Chances are it's a software problem (i've had the same problem before). If you still have your old motherboard, temporarily install it. Windows should load with the old hardware installed. If it does, back up your data right away. You may ultimately need to reinstall Windows. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dursty (talk • contribs) 04:33, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Have you read this: [3]? 0x0000007B is INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE. --wj32 ^t/c 05:19, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Java

I installed the Java JDK for a class I'm sitting in on (the teacher wants to use this as). I download this vers: JDK 6 Update 14 with JavaFX SDK- the first one and installed it correctly I think. I'm not really sure but when I run javafxc in cmd prompt it at least shows it's there. I'm a real beginner at programming in general so to test it I put a simple Hello World program into Notepad ++ and saved it as test.fx (for some reason unknown to me it uses Javafx, javafxc, and files at .fx not .java) and when I try to compile it I get an error me ssage. I tried copying and pasting the program from multiple sources and I get the same error every time. Heres my code:

class HelloWorldApp {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
       System.out.println("Hello World!"); // Display the string.
   }
}

and heres my error:

C:\Users\MyName\Documents>javafxc test.fx

test.fx:2: Sorry, I was trying to understand a 'class' decleration member but I got confused when I saw 'void' which is an  
identifier
  public static void main(String[] args){

test.fx:4: Sorry, I was trying to understand the script contents but I got confused when I found an extra '}' that 
shouldnot be there.

To me its inexplicable- the code is right I'm sure. Anyway, any help is greatly appreciated. 66.133.202.209 (talk) 04:14, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

The code is right, but javafxc is used for JavaFX -- not Java. Try saving it as .java and using javac instead of javafxc. --aktsu ^(t / c) 04:25, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Also, since the class is called "HelloWorldApp" you need to save it as "HelloWorldApp.java". --aktsu ^(t / c) 04:29, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

That is only partially correct. The file name does not need to match the class name because, in this case, the class is not public. However, the extension does need to be .java. Bendono (talk) 15:52, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunatly for me the download I used didn't install javac. When I try to run it, cmd propmt tells me it's not a recognized command. Anything better that I could download? I'm not sure how to install the gnu compiler. Thanks though. 66.133.202.209 (talk) 05:02, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I suggest you go back to the JavaSE download page and choose the "Java SE Development Kit - JDK 6 Update 14" a little further down the page (ie. not the one with JavaFX). Astronaut (talk) 15:36, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Well I ran write and run normal programs in the NetBeans ide. Regarding not finding javac its my dumbness actually. What I have to do is change my dir in the cmd prompt to C:\Program Files\Java\jdk_1.6.0_14\bin. However every time I want to compile a program I need to come back here and then whereever my file is saved I have to include that in the command (i.e javac C:\Users\...myfile.java). I tried to to -sourcepath to where I'm saving the files but it say's I'm making an error and I'm not even sure if that is the right thing to do so any help here would be appreciated66.133.202.209 (talk) 20:28, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you need to add javac's directory to your PATH. For XP at least, to change this you can right-click My Computer, click Properties. Go to the Advanced tab, and click the Environment Variables button at the bottom. Find the "PATH" variable in the bottom panel, and edit it to add the folder that javac is in to the list of folders. That way the cmd prompt should be able to find javac from anywhere. Indeterminate (talk) 21:14, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! That worked for me at least. btw any particular reason that it wasn't automatically installed there when I installed the jdk? I'm thinking it normally should be. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.133.202.209 (talk) 22:10, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

How can I increase My blog's Page Rank

I have a blog http://www.herbalgranny.com and it has pr 1 but I am trying to increase its pr but no results since last many days. Any Suggestion ? what to do ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sonaliindore (talk • contribs) 06:33, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

You should read PageRank - basically, at the most fundamental level it requires that other sites, link to you, the higher the page rank of the site linking to you the better.

I removed the link from the title, as it makes this post look like spam, and also makes it difficult to create a hyperlink to this section.83.100.250.79 (talk) 09:46, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Rather than intentionally trying to manipulated the results - which is a way to ensure lng term total insignificance, I recommend trying to advertise any interesting articles you have written, try creating a list of sites that might be interested in your content, and you could e-mail them if you have an interesting story. Also may blogs link to each other - try to find blogs and sites that you like, and link to them. You could leave them a message saying that you likeed their blog, and suggest they look at yours. They might like it too, and link to you.

At the end there is no substitute for original content. And don't spam!83.100.250.79 (talk) 09:52, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Setting up DNS server to allow access of stored files

I put files in the space allocated by my webhost via FTP. When I try to access them, I get a Server not found / 404 error.

My DNS records are:

NS ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ns3.firstfind.nl

NS ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ns4.firstfind.nl

A *.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> 85.158.203.157

A ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> 85.158.203.157

A localhost.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> 127.0.0.1

CNAME pop3.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME mail.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME www.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME smtp.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME ftp.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME pop.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ganymedes-lgbt.nl

CNAME en.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ghs.google.com

CNAME nl.ganymedes-lgbt.nl -> ghs.google.com

I'm trying to access the files in question via http://www.ganymedes-lgbt.nl/filepath - shouldn't this be possible with the present DNS settings? My webhost is starthosting.nl and I have temporary websites set up at Google but hope to change that soon to a set set up at my webhost. ----Seans Potato Business 08:46, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

"Server not found" and 404 are different errors - HTTP 404 means the HTTP server exists but the resource you requested doesn't exist. You have the latter error (the server address is fine]). It depends on the setup, but probably the filepath you specify when uploading the content by FTP isn't the same as what you access it by in HTTP. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:29, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, often there's a subdirectory that you'll be looking for. The folder might be named http_docs or yourdomain.com or something similar. Look for an index.php file - wherever it is will be your base web directory. Indeterminate (talk) 20:52, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Free domain names

Probably a long shot, but is there any ways to get a free domain name? It doesn't have to be anything specific, just has to be a real domain name and not one given by the isp or a subdomain of another website. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 09:09, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

.co.nr is one. http://freedomain.co.nr/ —SpaceFlight89 10:17, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, the OP asked for "real" domain names, and freedomain.co.nr gives away subdomains of co.nr:

CO.NR provides free domain names like user.co.nr that are free subdomains of .co.nr free web domain name ...

--wj32 ^t/c 11:36, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Besides, CO.NR only seems to offer HTTP redirection, not true domains that could be configured with IP addresses and such. --grawity 08:28, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Also, I don't know if this is what you're asking, but the majority of web hosting providers offer a free domain name registration with the purchase of a hosting package. Domain names are pretty cheap though, you know? They're like $10/year or less. :) Indeterminate (talk) 20:45, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Ebook readers

What is the most popular free ebook reader on the web? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 20:47, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Notepad, I should think. Our article Comparison of e-book formats has some more information. Algebraist 22:36, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Can people convert notepad ebooks to any form of ebook viewer? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 22:47, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

A "Notepad e-book" means nothing but a plain-text file. You can convert it to any format, if you only have the means of converting to that particular format. There really is no such thing as "converting from plain-text". --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:44, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh? So, like, what happens when I save a plain-text file as, say, a rich text file? --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 05:59, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Telnet over OpenVPN

I have an Ubuntu Server that I don't have space to set up on a desk, so I'm trying to set it up for remote administration (both LAN and Internet) with a VPN. The server has the fixed IP address 192.168.xxx.xxx. I've set up OpenVPN and had the router firewall configured to make 192.168.xxx.xxx a virtual server with public and private port 1194. I've set up telnetd on the server.

Although I can make the VPN connection just fine from my desktop computer on the LAN, I get "telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused" whenever I try to telnet in from the same desktop, whether I type "telnet 192.168.xxx.xxx 1194" or just "telnet 192.168.xxx.xxx". I suspect the reason is that telnetd is listening on its default port 23. How can I set it to listen on port 1194?

If it makes a difference, the OpenVPN is using TCP instead of the usual UDP. NeonMerlin 20:49, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Telnetd is set up by default with inetd. To change the port telnet listens on, edit /etc/inetd.conf as root. On the telnet line, the first word (probably "telnet") is actually a name corresponding to a port number in /etc/services. Just change "telnet" to the port number you want (1194). Then run /etc/init.d/openbsd-inetd restart.

If you're just using telnet to login remotely, though, ssh is a bit more standard these days. It's superior in almost every way. sudo apt-get install openssh-server to install it on the server. Indeterminate (talk) 21:06, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Is perfect character encoding possible?

I use Firefox 3.0.10 set with Unicode (UTF-8) as character encoding. I thought every possible character on earth would work with Unicode, but still some pages have strange characters formed lika boxes with numbers in them. This List of Wikipedias is a good example. Chinese, Japanese and Arabic characters looks fine there, but some other characters don't work. Here's a screenshot of how it looks like on my screen. Is it possible to make all the different character encodings work at the same time? Mårten Berglund (talk) 23:20, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Maybe you simply do not have a font with all these characters? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:04, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

That's right — encoding a character and having the right font are two separate matters. Tempshill (talk) 04:51, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

These might help: [4] [5] Indeterminate (talk) 07:40, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

July 20

IT certifications

I am looking for a somewhat complete list of certification courses that one can take in the IT field. Is there such a list? Cutno (talk) 00:41, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Here's an article to get you started: Professional_certification_(Computer_technology). Taggart.BBS (talk) 08:34, 20 July 2009 (UTC)